.       -      .-..     ••:.   .  .-    . 


POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


.POLITICS 


FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


BY  CHARLES  NORDHOFF 

'"O 

• 

AUTHOR  OF 

'THE  COMMUNISTIC  SOCIETIES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,"  "NORTHERN 
CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS,"  "CALI- 
FORNIA FOR  HEALTH,  PLEASURE,  AND  RESIDENCE,"  ETC. 


NEW   YORK: 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN      SQUARE. 
1875. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PARENTS  AND  TEACHERS. 


IN  the  following  pages  I  have  attempted  to  explain 
in  simple  language,  and  by  familiar  illustrations  fitted 
for  the  comprehension  of  boys  and  girls,  the  meaning 
and  limits  of  liberty,  law,  government,  and  human 
rights ;  and  thus  to  make  intelligible  to  them  the  polit- 
ical principles  on  which  our  system  of  government  in 
the  United  States  is  founded. 

The  book  grew  out  of  an  attempt,  in  a  few  letters,  to 
instruct  my  oldest  son  in  the  political  knowledge  which 
every  American  boy  ought  to  possess  to  fit  him  for  the 
duties  of  citizenship.  I  found  my  subject  much  larger 
than  I  at  first  imagined ;  but  interest  in  the  attempt  led 
me  on,  and  what  was  begun  originally  for  one  boy  is 
here  printed  for  the  use  of  others.  I  have  retained  the 
familiar  and  direct  style  which  one  naturally  uses  in 
addressing  a  boy,  because  thus  I  hope  more  easily  to  in- 
terest young  people  in  the  subject. 

I  believe  that  free  government  is  a  political  applica- 
tion of  the  Christian  theory  of  life ;  that  at  the  base  of 
the  republican  system  lies  the  Golden  Rule;  and  that 


vi  TO  PARENTS  AND   TEACHERS, 

to  be  a  good  citizen  of  the  United  States  one  ought  to 
be  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  to  believe 
in  and  act  upon  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  He  condemned 
self-seeking,  covetousness,  hypocrisy,  class  distinctions, 
envy,  malice,  undue  and  ignoble  ambition ;  and  he  in- 
culcated self-restraint,  repression  of  the  lower  and 
meaner  passions,  love  to  the  neighbor,  contentment, 
gentleness,  regard  for  the  rights  and  happiness  of  oth- 
ers, and  respect  for  the  law. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  vices  he  condemned  are  those 
also  which  are  dangerous  to  the  perpetuity  of  repub- 
lican government ;  and  that  the  principles  he  inculcated 
may  be  properly  used  as  tests  of  the  merits  of  a  political 
system  or  a  public  policy.  In  this  spirit  I  have  written, 
believing  that  thus  "government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people,"  can  be  most  clearly  justi- 
fied and  explained. 

ALPINE,  NEW  JERSEY,  Nov.,  1874. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

To  PARENTS  AND  TEACHERS v 

INTRODUCTION 11 

I.  OP  SOCIETY 13 

II.  OF  LIBERTY,  AND  THE  PROVINCE  OP  LAW 18 

III.  OP  GOVERNMENTS 20 

IV.  OP   THE  PRIMARY   AND  NECESSARY  FUNCTIONS    OF 

GOVERNMENT 22 

V.  OP  OTHER  FUNCTIONS  OP  GOVERNMENT 28 

VI.  OF  THE  USEFULNESS  AND  INCONVENIENCE  OF  FREE 

GOVERNMENT 82 

VTI.  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  PARTS  OP  A  GOVERNMENT 38 

VIII.  OF  DECENTRALIZATION 40 

IX.  OF  THE  RESPONSIBILITY  OP  THE  EXECUTIVE 43 

X.  OP  POLITICAL  PARTIES 47 

XI.  WHO  VOTE,  AND  WHY 50 

XII.  WHAT  OFFICERS  SHOULD  NOT  BE  ELECTED 54 

XIII.  OF  POLITICAL  CONSTITUTIONS 58 

XIV.  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  OR  LAW-MAKING  BRANCH 61 

XV.  OF  TOWN  MEETINGS 64 

XVI.  OP  EDUCATION 66 

XVII.  OF  TAXES 70 

XVIII.  OF  PROPERTY,  SURPLUS,  OR  WEALTH 74 

XIX.  OP  MONEY 79 

XX.  OP  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL 84 

XXI.  OF  USURY  LAWS .90 


•yiji  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

XXII.  OP  BANKS,  BANKING,  AND  CREDIT 96 

XXIII.  OF  BANK-NOTES 101 

XXIV.  OP  "  MOBE  GREENBACKS  " 108 

XXV.  OP  COMMERCE 112 

XXVI.  OF  DIVERSITY  OP  INDUSTRIES 123 

XXVH.  OP  STRIKES 139 

XXVIII.  OF  TRADES-UNIONS 144 

XXIX.  OF  THE  MALTHUSIAN  THEORY 148 

XXX.  OF  PROHIBITORY  LAWS 151 

XXXI.  OF  "  LOCAL  OPTION  " 156 

XXXH.  OF  CORPORATIONS 158 

XXXIII.  OF  CONFEDERATION  AND  UNION 161 

XXXIV.  THE  AMERICAN  POLITICAL  SYSTEM 166 

XXXV.  OF  THE  INALIENABLE  RIGHTS  OF  AN  AMERICAN 

CITIZEN 173 

XXXVI.  OF  THE  DUTIES  OP  AN  AMERICAN  CITIZEN 175 

XXXVH.  OF  TRIAL  BY  JURY 177 

XXXVIII.  THE  PRIMARY  MEETING  AND  THE  CAUCUS 180 

XXXIX.  OF  THE  IMPORTANCE  AND  DUTY  OF  THE  MINOR- 
ITY    185 

XL.  OF  CITY  GOVERNMENTS 188 

XLI.  OF  SOME  FAULTS  IN  OUR  STATE  CONSTITUTIONS.  193 
XLII.  OF  TERRITORIES,  PUBLIC  LANDS,  COLONIES,  AND 

MANIFEST  DESTINY 195 

XLHL  WHEN  WE  NUMBER  ONE  HUNDRED  MILI  IONS  . . .  200 


APPENDIX. 

ARTICLES  OP  CONFEDERATION 207 

CONSTITUTION  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 216 

DECLARATION  OP  INDEPENDENCE 233 

WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS 238 

INDEX .  355 


TO 


WALTER  NORDHOFF 


A2 


MY  DEAR  BOY, 

You  are  now  sixteen ;  in  five  years  you 
will  have  the  right  and  duty  to  vote  not  only  for  (or 
against)  persons,  but  also  upon  measures  of  public  pol- 
icy. I  should  like  you  to  vote  and  perform  the  other 
duties  of  citizenship  intelligently,  and  not  ignorantly; 
and  to  do  this  it  is  necessary  that  you  shall  understand 
something  of  the  principles  upon  which  our  government 
was  established,  and  upon  which,  of  course,  it  ought  to 
be  conducted.  This  is  the  more  necessary,  because,  if 
you  are  right,  you  will  sometimes  be  in  the  minority, 
and  when  the  right  cause  is  in  the  minority,  it  is  of 
great  importance  that  its  adherents  shall  be  able  to  give 
pertinent  and  convincing  reasons  for  their  course:  for 
thus  only  can  a  minority  hope  to  become  a  majority. 
In  a  free  state  every  great  political  struggle  is  a  contest 
of  principles ;  and  you  have  only  to  read  such  a  book 
as  the  Debates  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas  to  see  of 
what  extreme  importance  to  freedom  and  constitutional 
government  is  the  ability  to  comprehend  for  yourself, 
and  to  expose  clearly  to  others,  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  free  government. 

Moreover,  you  must  understand  that  to  the  citizen  of 
a  free  state,  politics  concern  themselves  in  the  largest 


12  POLITICS   FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

sense  with  the  liberty  and  the  prosperity  of  the  people, 
which  are  sure  to  be  affected  by  bad  laws — and  bad 
laws  are  often  adopted  with  the  best  motives,  and  urged 
and  supported  by  men  who  are  as  truly  patriotic  and 
benevolent  as  they  are  ignorant. 

It  is  one  of  the  great  merits  of  our  political  system  in 
the  United  States  that,  though  it  appears  at  first  view 
complicated,  it  is  in  fact  sufficiently  simple  to  be  under- 
stood by  all  the  citizens.  In  what  follows  I  mean  to  ex- 
plain to  you  the  general  principles  on  which  free  gov- 
ernment rests,  and  the  manner  in  which  those  principles 
are  applied  in  our  own  country;  and  I  shall  try  to  do 
this  in  such  a  way  that,  with  a  little  attention  and  study, 
you  will,  I  hope,  be  able  to  understand  all  that  is  need- 
ful. 

At  the  foundation  of  all  government  is  SOCIETY,  and 
of  this  I  must  first  tell  you  something. 


OF  SOCIETY.  13 


I. 

OF  SOCIETY. 

1.  God   does  not  appear  to  have   created   men  by 
chance,  for  we  find  all  mankind  to  possess  certain  qual- 
ities, faculties,  and  desires,  which  move  and  rule  them, 
whether  they  are  savages  or  call  themselves  civilized, 
and  whether  they  are  black,  brown,  yellow,  or  white. 

2.  One  of  the  principal  and  most  important  qualities 
of  mankind  is  gregariousness.     This  means  that  men 
have  a  propensity  to  gather  in  flocks  or  herds;  a  pro- 
pensity also  of  many  animals,  as  sheep,  cattle,  horses, 
blackbirds,  elephants,  and  some  monkeys.     This  desire 
for  the  society  of  their  kind  leads  animals  to  go  in 
droves — as  the  buffaloes  upon  the  plains;  and  it  col- 
lects savage  men  into  tribes,  and  civilized  men  into  na- 
tions, which  are  only  larger  and  more  highly  organized 
tribes. 

3.  But  as  man  has  received  from  God  qualities,  fac- 
ulties, and  desires  which  the  beasts  have  not,  men  are 
able  to  do  something  more  than  herd  together;  and  the 
rudest  tribe  of  savages  has  laws  or  rules  for  the  conduct 
of  its  members  which  the  most  highly  developed  society 
of  apes  or  blackbirds  or  elephants  of  which  we  know 
is  without. 

4.  Animals  have,  1,  desire  to  live ;  2,  desire  for  suffi- 
cient food ;  3,  desire  to  propagate  their  kind  and  to  pro- 
tect their  young;  and,  4,  desire  to  avoid  pain,  and  to 


14  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

live,  therefore,  in  the  circumstances  for  which  their  nat- 
ure best  fits  them :  in  other  words,  to  be  comfortable. 
When  you  see  more  of  men,  you  will  discover  that  some 
men  are  very  much  like  animals,  and  have  no  aspira- 
tions or  desires  which  can  not  properly  be  ranged  un- 
der the  above  heads.  Such  a  man  I  do  not  want  you 
to  be. 

5.  Besides  the  desires  which  we  have  in  common  with 
beasts,  and  which  are  necessary  to  us  in  order  to  pre- 
serve our  species  from  extinction,  God  has  given  men 
other  desires,  and  faculties  which,  if  they  wish,  they 
may  use  for  their  fulfillment.    These  higher  qualities  of 
our  lives  are  not  needed  for  the  mere  preservation  of 
life.     Some  of  those  which  by  general  consent  are  re- 
garded as  the  highest,  lead  inevitably  to  the  lessening 
of  many  of  our  pleasures,  and  not  unfrequently  to  the 
surrender  of  an   individual's   comfort,  happiness,  and 
even  life,  to  increase,  as  he  may  believe,  the  welfare 
of  his  fellow-men.     Looking  at  these  higher  motives, 
desires,  and  aspirations,  and   at  the  degree   in  which 
they  interfere  with  the  happiness   or  comfort  of  the 
body  alone,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe,  what  Jesus  taught, 
that  men  have  something  immortal,  destined  to  live  on 
after  the  body  perishes,  and  capable,  after  its  release 
from  the  body,  of  still  greater  development  and  higher 
enjoyments.     This  something  we  call  the  Soul. 

6.  Take  notice  that  the  soul  of  man  should  not  obey  the 
law  of  living,  but  the  law  of  duty.     For  instance,  of  all 
the  friends  of  your  father  and  mother  who  served  in  the 
late  great  war,  there  was  not  one  who,  if  he  had  obeyed 
the  mere  law  of  living — the  animal  instinct  of  self-pres- 
ervation— would  not  have  remained  at  home,  and  pursued 


OF  SOCIETY.  15 

hjg  usual  calling,  in  comfort,  with  his  family  about  him, 
and  his  wealth  increasing.  Instead  of  that  they  aban- 
doned their  professions,  broke  up  the  careers  they  had 
planned  for  themselves,  left  their  families  and  their 
comfortable  homes,  and  undertook  to  face  hardships  to 
which  they  were  unaccustomed,  and  not  a  few  died  on 
the  field  of  battle.  They  did  and  suffered  thus,  not  to 
benefit  themselves,  or  to  gratify  any  of  the  desires  or 
passions  which  men  have  in  common  with  the  beasts, 
but  in  the  hope  of  helping  to  maintain  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment which  they  believed  to  be  pre-eminently  calcu- 
lated to  elevate  mankind,  and  increase  the  happiness  of 
their  fellows.  A  buffalo  would  be  incapable  of  such 
motives :  if  he  fought,  it  would  be  from  greed  for  food, 
from  a  desire  for  a  more  comfortable  lodgment,  out  of 
jealousy,  or  in  self-defense,  supplemented  eventually  by 
rage. 

7.  A  creature  believing  himself  to  possess  an  immor- 
tal part,  or  soul,  destined  to  survive  the  body,  would  rea- 
sonably seek  to  prepare  this  immortal  part  for  the  con- 
ditions under  which  it  is  to  exist.  And  as  the  future 
life  is,  as  we  are  taught,  to  be  lived  without  the  help  of 
the  body,  it  is  evident  that  training  the  soul  or  spirit 
consists  in  increasing  by  cultivation  our  capacity  for 
those  enjoyments  which  do  not  depend  upon  the  body. 
To  curb  the  body,  therefore,  and  keep  it  under  control, 
to  restrain  the  lower  passions — those  which  we  have  in 
common  with  beasts — and  to  weed  out  of  ourselves  also 
envy,  greed,  spite,  covetousness,  jealousy,  hypocrisy,  ill- 
temper — all  tending  to  disregard  for  the  rights  of  others 
— would  appear,  aside  from  the  commands  and  instruc- 
tions of  religion,  to  be  the  reasonable  and  prudent  course 


16  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

of  every  man  who  believes  himself  to  have  an  immortal 
part,  or  soul. 

8.  But  God  has  so  made  the  world,  and  so  formed 
mankind  that  they  naturally  and  inevitably  respect  and 
esteem  most  highly  those  who  most  consistently  act  upon 
this  theory  of  life.     The  whole  world  is  combined  to 
honor  Washington ;  and  it  is  equally  unanimous  in  exe- 
crating a  merely  vulgar  and  cheating  politician,  like 
Tweed  or  Sweeney. 

9.  Now  I  wish  you  to  remember,  as  a  FUNDAMENTAL 
TRUTH  IN  AMERICAN  POLITICS,  that   the   course   of  life 
which  is  thus  calculated  to  fit  your  immortal  part  for 
the  future  and  spiritual  life  is  also  that  course  which 
will  make  you  a  good  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

10.  To  be  a  good  citizen  means  not  merely  that  you 
shall  give  such  prudent  obedience  to  the  laws  as  would 
keep  you  out  of  jail.     It  means  that  you  shall  in  all 
parts  of  your  life  live  moderately  and  virtuously;  that 
you  shall  "love  your  neighbor  as  yourself,"  and  there- 
fore do  him  no  wrong ;  that  you  shall  pursue  your  aims 
in  life  with  such  moderation  as  to  avoid  interfering 
with  the  happiness  of  others;  that  you  shall  endeavor 
by  your  actions,  whenever  occasion  serves,  to  benefit 
your  fellow-men :  for  selfishness  breeds  selfishness,  cov- 
etousness  corrupts  those  who  behold  it,  and  liberty  can 
only  be  maintained  among  a  people  who  practice  self- 
sacrifice,  and  to  whom  a  virtuous  life  seems  more  im- 
portant than  mere  selfish  success. 

11.  To  be  a  good  man  is  your  first  duty  as  an  Ameri- 
can; but  you  ought  also,  if  possible,  to  be  a  wise  citi- 
zen, and  to  that  end  you  should  understand  what  are 
the  proper  powers  and  the  proper  limitations  of  gov- 


OF  SOCIETY.  If 

ernment ;  what  can  not  as  well  as  what  can  be  done 
by  law.  For  some  of  the  most  foolish  and  injurious 
laws  on  our  statute-books  have  been  enacted  by  good 
men  with  a  sincere  desire  to  increase  the  happiness  of 
their  fellow-beings.  We  come  then,  next,  to  the  consid- 
eration of  Liberty  and  the  Province  of  Law. 


18  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


II 

OF  LIBERTY,  AND  THE  PROVINCE  OF  LAW. 

12.  You  enjoy  liberty  when  you  may  say   and  do 
whatever  pleases  you  and  does  not  injure  other  persons. 
If  every  human  being  were  endowed  with  infallible 
judgment  as  to  the  effect  of  his  acts  on  others,  and 
strength  of  purpose  to   avoid  every  thing  that   could 
injure  his  fellow-men,  laws  would  be  needless. 

13.  But  as  the  judgment  of  men  is  fallible,  and  their 
strength  varies;   as  all  men  do  not  think   alike,  and 
some  do  not  think  at  all,  it  has  been  found  necessary  in 
almost  all  societies,  however  rudely  organized,  to  de- 
clare what  shall  be  held  injurious;  and  not  only  this, 
but  to  denounce  penalties  for  such  injurious  acts.     Bear 
in  mind,  however,  that  political  laws  can  cover  only  a 
part  and  not  the  whole  duty  of  man ;  and  that  there  is 
no  lower  or  meaner  rogue  than  he  who  studies  the  law 
merely  to  keep  out  of  its  clutches. 

14.  The  Congress  which  sat  from  December,  1873,  to 
June  23,  1374,  enacted  five  hundred  and  fifty  new  laws, 
of  which  two  hundred  and  thirty-six  were  general  laws, 
and  three  hundred  and  fourteen  private  laws.     Many 
of  our  state  legislatures  are  quite  as  industrious  as  Con- 
gress ;   and  the  multiplication  of  laws  has  become  a 
curse  to  the  country,  and  has  a  tendency  to  bring  into 
contempt,  not  only  the  laws,  but  those  who  make  them. 

15.  Considering  the  propensity  of  men  to  multiply 


OF  LIBERTY,  AND   THE  PROVINCE  OF  LA  W.      19 

laws,  and,  often  with  good  intentions,  to  legislate  upon 
subjects  which  do  not  come  properly  within  the  limits 
of  law,  it  is  proper  to  tell  you  that:  Laws  should  be 
few  in  number  and  simple  in  structure;  they  should 
rigidly  avoid  granting  special  privileges  or  immunities 
to  individuals,  but  should  be  general  in  their  applica- 
tion ;  and  they  ought  never  to  interfere  with  the  liberty 
of  men  to  move  about  peaceably  from  place  to  place ; 
to  discuss  freely  public  affairs  and  questions ;  to  engage 
in  whatever  honest  occupation  pleases  them ;  to  produce 
whatever  seems  to  them  most  suitable ;  and  to  exchange 
what  they  have  produced  where  they  please,  and  for 
what  they  most  desire.  These  limitations  of  the  law- 
making  power  no  doubt  seem  to  you  so  simple  and  so 
evidently  just  that  you  will  wonder  they  need  to  be  spec- 
ified ;  but  in  fact  there  is  in  every  legislative  body  a 
constant  propensity  to  overstep  these  limits — a  tendency 
which  the  united  efforts  of  all  the  wisest  men  in  any 
state  or  in  the  whole  country  can  not  entirely  resist.  It 
was  noticed  by  an  eminent  English  writer  that  almost 
all  modern  reforms  in  Europe  have  been  made,  not  by 
enacting  new  laws,  but  by  repealing  a  great  mass  of 
old  ones. 


20  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


III. 

OF  GOVERNMENTS. 

16.  Governments  are  necessary  evils.    Their  necessity 
arises  out  of  the  selfishness  and  stupidity  of  mankind. 

17.  They  are  of  different  kinds:  Despotisms,  where 
the  will  of  one  man  is  the  law ;  oligarchies,  where  a  few 
make  the  laws  for  those  subordinate  to  them  ;  and  free 
or  popular  governments,  where  the  laws  are  made  by 
the  people,  or  rather  by  persons  they  select  for  that 
purpose. 

18.  In  reading  history,  you  will  discover  that  the  less 
intelligent  and  more  selfish  a  nation  was,  the  more  des- 
potic was  its  government,  and  the  more  arbitrary  and 
vexatious  its  laws ;  and  that  as  the  general  average  of 
virtue  and  intelligence  in  a  nation  increased,  in  the 
same  degree  its  government  and  laws  became  milder 
and  more  just.     It  is  equally  true  that  a  nation  which 
has  enjoyed  an  excellent  government  may,  by  the  cor- 
ruption of  its  morals,  and  the  consequent  increase  of 
selfishness  and  ignorance,  lose  this,  and  have  imposed 
on  it  a  worse,  and  even  the  worst  form  of  government. 
Thus  I  wish  you  to  believe  that  it  is  only  by  maintain- 
ing, and  even  elevating,  the  standard  of  virtue  and  in- 
telligence among  our  people  that  we  can  preserve  our 
free  institutions. 

19.  Hence  the  importance  that  you  should  be  a  good 
citizen,  in  the  largest  sense;  for  the  example  of  each 


OF  GOVERNMENTS.  21 

tells  npon  all  who  surround  him.  If,  when  you  become 
a  man,  you  should  be  dishonest,  unscrupulous,  regardless 
of  others'  rights,  covetous  of  wealth  or  distinction  to  the 
injury  of  others,  envious,  in  any  way  base,  your  course 
would  help  to  demoralize  and  debauch  the  unthinking 
and  weak,  which  means  the  larger  part  of  those  who 
surround  you.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  course  of  life 
of  the  notorious  James  Fisk  was  peculiarly  hateful  to 
good  citizens ;  his  own  life  they  would  have  troubled 
themselves  little  about,  but  the  influence  of  his  career 
was  pernicious  and  degrading  upon  the  whole  country. 
This  is  the  reason,  too,  why  Napoleon  III.  drew  on  him- 
self in  an  especial  manner  the  bitter  dislike  of  thought- 
ful men  and  women  ;  why  we  abhor  a  political  dema- 
gogue, a  swindler  in  office,  or  a  merely  ostentatious  rich 
man :  because  their  bad  example  is  contagious,  infects 
the  weaker  part  of  those  who  see  the  spectacle,  de- 
grades public  opinion,  and  makes  vice  less  odious,  and 
virtue  and  self-restraint  less  important  in  the  general 
mind.  On  the  other  hand,  the  example  of  probity,  of 
faithfulness  to  duty  and  to  principle,  in  the  lowest  citi- 
zen, is  valuable  and  important  because  it  wrins  general 
respect,  not  merely  for  the  man,  but  for  those  virtues  of 
which  his  life  is  an  example. 


22  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


IV. 

OF  THE  PRIMARY  AND  NECESSARY  FUNCTIONS 
OF  GOVERNMENT. 

20.  The  primary  and  necessary  functions  of  any  gov- 
ernment are  to  maintain  the  peace  and  to  administer 
justice,  which  means  to  protect  the  orderly  and  law- 
abiding  part  of  the  people  in  the  enjoyment  of  life  and 
property  and  against  the  attacks  of  the  disorderly  and 
law-breaking.    Necessarily  it  has  also  to  collect  from  the 
people,  in  the  manner  most  equal  and  least  oppressive, 
the  money  needed  to  pay  the  officers  charged  with  these 
duties. 

21.  Where  the   average  of  virtue,  intelligence,  and 
self-restraint  is  high  among  a  people,  their  government 
needs  to  interfere  but  little  in  their  affairs.     Where  this 
average  is  low,  government  always  interferes  more,  by 
means    of    police,   armies,   and    vexatious   regulations. 
This  arises  from  the  fact  that  peace,  order,  and  the  se- 
curity of  life  and  property  are  regarded  as  the  most 
precious  and  necessary  possessions  by  every  people,  and 
to  secure  these,  men  and  nations  are  generally  ready  to 
give  up  a  large  measure  of  political  liberty,  and  to  suf- 
fer many  other  and  minor  evils,  such  as  high  taxation. 
On  this  plea  the  French  people  were  induced  to  accept 
Napoleon  as  the  "  savior  of  society,"  and  the  common 
excuse  for  a  despotism  is  that  it  is  necessary  to  main- 
tain order ;  which  nevertheless  it  does  not  maintain,  ex- 


PRIMARY  FUNCTIONS   OF  GOVERNMENT.        23 

cept  temporarily,  and  at  the  monstrous  cost  of  increas- 
ing the  ignorance  and  helplessness  and  diminishing  the 
virtue  and  public  spirit  of  the  nation,  and  thus  in  the 
end  increasing  tremendously  the  causes  of  disorder. 
Napoleon  III.  held  France  by  the  throat  for  eighteen 
years,  and  all  the  meaner  sort  of  mankind  glorified  him 
as  the  wisest  of  rulers;  but  eighteen  years  of  liberty, 
even  with  the  greatest  presumable  amount  of  disorder, 
would  not  have  left  France  as  poor,  debt-ridden,  humil- 
iated, and  demoralized  as  it  is  to-day. 

22.  In  our  own  country,  since  the  late  war,  the  Federal 
Government  has  been  allowed  to  interfere  in  the  local  af- 
fairs of  some  of  the  states,  whose  citizens  had  not  suffi- 
cient public  virtue  and  self-restraint  to  maintain  order 
among  themselves.  I  wish  you  to  believe  that  such 
forcible  interference  of  the  Federal  Government,  except 
for  special,  temporary,  and  extraordinary  occasions,  as  to 
quell  a  sudden  riot,  is  unwise  and  dangerous :  because  it 
debases  public  spirit,  and  enervates  the  orderly  part  of 
society,  whose  highest  duty  it  is  to  rule  and  to  punish 
wrong-doers.  It  would  be  far  wiser  to  let  a  state,  or 
even  half-a-dozen  states,  suffer  from  misgovernment 
until  the  orderly  part  of  their  communities  learned  the 
necessity  of  forming  and  maintaining  a  good  adminis- 
tration. California  would  to-day  be  in  a  chaotic  condi- 
tion had  its  early  settlers  been  taught  to  depend  upon 
the  Federal  Government  for  protection  in  their  local 
concerns.  But  these,  having  borne  violence  and  lawless- 
ness as  long  as  they  could,  and  finding  no  outside  power 
at  hand  to  help  them,  at  last  took  affairs  into  their  own 
hands — where  such  affaire  properly  belonged — hanged 
the  worst  criminals,  banished  others,  and  formed  a  stable 


24:  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

and  very  highly  public-spirited  community,  which,  while 
largely  composed  of  the  rudest  elements,  yet  developed, 
as  the  direct  result  of  this  experience,  in  a  singularly 
great  degree  the  spirit  of  obedience  to  and  respect  for 
law,  which  is  the  essence  of  what  we  call  public  spirit. 

23.  In  like  manner  the  city  of  New  York  was  for 
many. years  ruled  at  Albany,  on  the  plea  that  it  was  un- 
safe to  allow  the  citizens  to  take  charge  of  their  local 
affairs.     But  under  the  Albany  rule  corruption  and  dis- 
order constantly  increased;  and  it  was  left  in  the  end  for 
the  people  of  the  city  to  release  themselves  by  their  own 
effort  from  the  control  of  the  Tweed  -  Sweeny  Ring ; 
and  they  were  actually  able  to  do  this,  even  after  the 
corruptionists  had  for  years   debauched  public   senti- 
ment, and  when  the  Ring  were  at  the  height  of  their 
power. 

24.  It  is   only  where  the  people  have  public   spirit 
enough  to  resent  wrong,  and  to  give  vigorous  and  instant 
support  to  the  officers  of  justice,  that  governments  can 
be  efficient ;  and  it  is  true  that  no  government  will  be 
just,  economical,  or  efficient  unless  the  general  opinion 
of  the  people  requires  that  it  shall  be  so.     Rulers  are 
only  men  ;  the  possession  of  power  easily  demoralizes  the 
best  and  wisest  of  men ;  and  no  ruler  will  long  be  just, 
efficient,  honest,  or  respectable,  who  does  not  feel  and 
fear  the  force  of  public  indignation ;  nor  will  rogues 
fear  the  laws,  unless  they  are  assured  that  the  mass  of 
citizens  will  vigorously  demand  the  prompt  enforcement 
of  the  laws. 

25.  Thus  the  city  of  New  York  has  long  suffered 
from  the  depredations  of  the  criminal  part  of  its  popu- 
lation, because  the  courts  have  too  often  been  corrupt, 


PRIMARY  FUNCTIONS  OF  GOVERNMENT.        25 

and  the  administration  of  the  law  was  lax.  A  mur- 
derer or  highway  robber,  caught  red-handed,  who  was  al- 
lowed to  lie  in  jail  for  a  year  before  trial,  and  to  carry 
his  case  through  all  the  courts  on  appeal,  knew  that  his 
offense  would  be  forgotten  before  his  punishment  came ; 
and  his  fellow-criminals,  seeing  punishment  long  delayed 
and  frequently  evaded,  were  encouraged  in  their  vicious 
careers.  Thus  crime  was  fostered.  But  across  the 
Hudson,  in  New  Jersey,  the  courts  are  more  rigorous ; 
and  the  effect  of  prompt  justice  was  shown,  some  years 
ago,  in  a  case  of  burglary.  The  burglars,  New-Yorkers 
by  residence,  were  caught ;  the  grand  jury,  which  hap- 
pened to  be  in  session,  found  a  true  bill  against  them ; 
they  were  at  once  brought  to  trial ;  and  in  eleven  days 
after  their  burglary  were  sentenced  to  thirty  years  in 
state  prison  and  safely  lodged  in  the  Trenton  Prison, 
with  no  hope  of  pardon.  There  was  not  a  burglary  for 
several  years  in  the  neighborhood. 

26.  Back  of  all  laws  and  all  authority  must  lie  a  be- 
lief that  in  the  last  resort  every  citizen  will  defend  his 
own  rights.  You  can  not  put  a  corporal's  guard  at  ev- 
ery man's  door.  The  thief  or  robber  at  bottom  never 
fears  the  law  and  the  government  nearly  as  much  as  he 
does  the  right  arm  and  courage  of  the  man  he  seeks  to 
injure.  This  is  shown  wherever,  in  our  own  country, 
any  even  inconsiderable  body  of  citizens  have  suffered 
themselves  to  be  robbed,  whether  on  the  highway  or  by 
rings  of  swindling  politicians.  "When,  last  year,  three 
masked  robbers  were  able  to  plunder  a  railroad  train 
full  of  unresisting  passengers  in  Missouri,  other  high- 
way robberies  were  presently  reported  from  the  same 
region.  The  desperadoes  were  encouraged  in  their  ca- 

B 


26  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

reers  by  the  quiet  submission  of  their  victims.  They 
did  not  greatly  fear  the  law ;  and  a  single  shot  from  a 
brave  citizen  would  have  checked  them  more  immedi- 
ately than  the  whole  power  of  the  government  unsup- 
ported by  the  citizens.  In  Montana,  in  the  early  days 
of  its  settlement,  the  territory  for  a  time  lay  subject 
to  a  powerful  robber  band,  whose  members  had  the 
audacity  even  to  ride  into  shops  in  Helena,  in  open  day, 
on  horseback,  and  demand  tribute  from  the  shopkeep- 
ers. They  had  no  dread  of  police  or  troops,  because  the 
people  suffered  their  exactions 'without  resistance.  But 
one  day  a  courageous  shopkeeper  shot  dead  the  robber 
who  rode  into  his  store — and  that  single  act,  arousing 
the  citizens,  caused  the  speedy  extirpation  of  the  robbers. 

27.  Immediately  after  the  late  war  the  newly  eman- 
cipated negroes  were  threatened  with  various  aggres- 
sions from  the  intolerant  and  ignorant  part  of  the  South- 
ern whites ;  and  having  been  long  slaves,  they  did  not 
at  first  assert  their  rights.     Attempts  were  made  by  the 
United  States  Government  to  defend  them ;  but  this 
was  soon  seen  to  be  impossible ;  and  had  they  not  pres- 
ently learned  to  defend  themselves,  society  must  have 
perished  in  those  states,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  one  of 
the  most  powerful  governments  in  the  world,  and  of  a 
whole  bookful  of  laws  and  penalties  enacted  by  Con- 
gress.    Fortunately  for  the  country,  the  negroes  soon 
learned  their  duty  in  this  respect.     Indeed,  they  present- 
ly became  aggressive;  and  wherever  it  is  understood 
that  they  have  the  courage  to  strike  back,  their  persecu- 
tions have  ceased. 

28.  It  is  only  where  the  mass  of  the  people  resent  the 
violation  of  law  and  order,  and  are  prompt  in  coming 


PRIMARY  FUNCTIONS   OF  GOVERNMENT.         27 

to  the  help  of  the  officers  to  enforce  the  laws  and  put 
down  wrong -doers,  that  free  government  is  secure. 
Where  the  people  are  careless,  and  submit  readily  to 
wrong,  the  law  soon  falls  into  disrepute,  rights  are  in- 
vaded, and  disorders  are  encouraged.  Hence  in  a  free 
community  the  citizens  can  not  delegate  to  police  or 
other  law  officers  the  whole  duty  of  maintaining  peace 
and  order ;  they  must  hold  themselves  ready  at  all  times 
to  assist  by  their  countenance,  and  if  need  be  by  their 
personal  efforts,  the  officers  whom  they  haye  charged 
with  the  execution  of  the  laws. 


28  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


V. 

OF  SOME  OTHER  FUNCTIONS  OF  GOVERNMENT. 

29.  The  primary  and  necessary  functions  of  govern- 
ment are,  as  I  told  you  in  the  last  section,  to  maintain 
the  peace  and  execute  justice  between  the  different  mem- 
bers of  society. 

30.  Under  this  head  come  the  army,  navy,  police,  and 
the  conduct  of  official  intercourse  with  foreign  nations, 
and  in  our  country  with  Indian  tribes — whom  we  have 
always  treated  as  foreign  nations,  by  which  course  we 
have  retarded  their  advance  into  civilization,  and  caused 
endless  Indian  wars  and  constant  corruption. 

31.  But  all  civilized  governments  are  charged  with  yet 
other  duties,  which,  it  has  been  found,  they  can  perform, 
if  not  in  a  better  yet  in  a  more  uniform  and  convenient 
manner  than  private  citizens,  and  which  are  also  inci- 
dentally o'f  political  importance.     These  duties  are:  to 
conduct  the  post-office—by  which  intercourse  by  letters, 
and  the  dissemination  of  printed  information,  is  made 
uniformly  easy  and  cheap  all  over  the  country;  the  pub- 
lic or  free  education  of  youth;  the  maintenance  of  a 
light-house  system ;  the  protection  and  improvement  of 
harbors ;  a  large  body  of  scientific  observations  which 
require  to  be  conducted  systematically  during  a  great 
number  of  years  in  order  to  be  valuable ;  the  survey  of 
lands,  and  the  recording  of  deeds,  which  are  the  tokens 
of  ownership  in  land ;  the  care  of  the  public  health,  and 


OTHER  FUNCTIONS   OF  GOVERNMENT.  29 

the  prevention  or  abolition  of  nuisances,  and  quarantine 
or  the  means  to  keep  out  infectious  diseases;  the  care 
of  roads  and  bridges ;  and  some  others. 

32.  Some  of  these  matters  we  leave  to  the  Federal 
Government ;  others  are  assigned  to  the  states ;  and  oth- 
ers yet  are  deputed  by  these  to  the  city  and  county 
governments. 

33.  I  wish  you  to  remember  that  private  enterprise 
would  probably  perform  all  these  offices  as  well,  and 
many  better  than  the  government.    For  example,  in  Cal- 
ifornia and  Nevada,  Wells-Fargo's  express  has  for  many 
years  carried  letters,  because  the  public  there  believed 
that  it  would  convey  them  more  rapidly  and  securely 
than  the  post-office,  and  was  willing  to  pay  an  extra 
rate  for  the  security.     But  over  the  whole  country  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  mails  would  be  delivered  with  the  same 
general  uniformity  of  speed  and  regularity  and  cheap- 
ness by  private  persons  as  by  the  government ;  and  this 
is  the  legitimate  excuse  for  the  existence  of  the  post- 
office. 

34.  Because  we  assign  to  the  government  some  duties, 
therefore,  which  ^private   citizens   could   perform,  and 
would  probably  perform  in  a  better  manner  than  the 
government,  this  does  not  prove  that  the  government 
ought  to  extend  such  operations  and  intrude  into  the 
great  field 'of  private  enterprise.     And  yet,  you  must 
know,  there  is  a  constant  tendency  toward  such  exten- 
sion.    Thus  it  is  maintained  by  some  persons  that  the 
government  ought  to  become  a  carrier  of  parcels,  and 
thus  assume  the  functions  of  an  express  company.    Oth- 
ers wish  it  to  take  possession  of  the  telegraph  lines ;  yet 
others  imagine  that  it  ought  to  own  and  manage  the 


SO  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

railroads.  Yarious  reasons  lead  men  to  these  notions — 
su'ch  as  impatience  under  delays  or  inconveniences ;  dis- 
appointed business  rivalries ;  hopes  of  gain  by  selling 
out  at  a  large  price  to  the  government ;  a  liking  for 
grand  operations,  such  as  the  government  alone  can  carry 
on  ;  and  a  vague  and  ignorant  belief  that  the  government 
can  really  transact  business  better  than  private  persons. 

35.  I  give  you  below  the  main  reasons  why  a  govern- 
ment should  be  strictly  confined  to  its  proper  functions, 
and  why  we  should  oppose  all  attempts  to  impose  upon 
it  other  duties  which  lie  outside  of  these :  1st.  It  would 
have  to  increase  very  greatly  its  staff  of  servants,  which 
increases  the  patronage,  which  means  the  power  of  brib- 
ery, possessed  by  the  rulers ;  and  their  means  of  cor- 
rupting the  people,  and  thus  encroaching  upon  our  lib- 
erties.    2dly.  It  would  greatly  increase  the  amount  of 
money  to  be  handled  by  the  government,  and  thus  make 
the  possession  of  power  tempting  to  bad  men,  which 
is  another  means  toward  the  corruption  of  the  people. 
3dly.  It  would  make  the  people  dependent,  and  deprive 
them  of  incentives  to  ingenuity  and  enterprise,  and  lead 
them  to  look  to  some  power  outside  .of  themselves  for 
the  management  of  their  daily  lives.     All  these  are  se- 
rious evils ;  and  if  we  had  to  choose,  it  would  be  far 
wiser  to  turn  the  post-office,  roads,  light-houses,  the  public 
education,  and  all  other  matters  of  that  kind  over  to 
private  enterprise,  than  to  allow  the  government  to  as- 
sume still  other  functions,  such  as  telegraphing  and  car- 
rying express  parcels,  or  managing  the  railroads. 

36.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  perpetuity 
of  free  government  that  the  people  should  be  left  to  do 
for  themselves  whatever  they  can,  without  the  inter- 


OTHER  FUNCTIONS   OF  GOVERNMENT.  31 

ference  of  the  government.  Free  government  is  not,  at 
any  given  time,  the  most  convenient^as  I  shall  show  you 
further  on ;  but  it  has  this  transcendent  merit,  that  under 
it  alone  can  abuses  be  cured  without  revolution  or  the 
disorganization  of  society.  For  instance,  the  people  are 
just  now  agitated  about  the  abuse  of  power  by  railroads. 
We  shall  remedy  this  class  of  evils,  slowly  no  doubt, 
but  surely,  and  without  revolution ;  but  in  a  despotic 
government  the  railroad  question  would  perhaps  upset 
the  government ;  and  it  would  at  any  rate  become  mixed 
up  with  the  question  of  the  existence  of  the  government 
itself.  We  in  the  United  States  may  not,  at  any  time, 
have  all  the  physical  conveniences  which  we  might  have 
for  a  while  if  the  government  did  every  thing  for  us ; 
but  we  have  the  means  of  peaceful  progress;  the  cer- 
tainty that  we  shall  slowly  but  surely  solve  all  the  diffi- 
culties which  press  upon  all  civilized  nations  alike ;  and 
solve  them  without  revolution  —  which  means,  without 
permanent  injury  to  society. 


32  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


VI. 

OF  THE   USEFULNESS  AND   THE  INCONVENIENCE 
OF  FREE  GOVERNMENT. 

37.  What  we  call  a  free  government,  one  in  which 
the  people  rule,  and  in  which  much  is  left  to  the  people, 
has  therefore  this  extremely  important  advantage,  that 
it  forces  them  to  be  self -helpful ;  and  obtains  peaceful 
progress,  not  by  the  costly  and  after  all  ineffective  in- 
terference of  the  government,  but  by  the  only  permanent 
means,  the  determination  of  the  people  themselves.    Thus 
government  "  of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the 
people,"  educates  a  nation  in  courage,  enterprise,  a  strong 
sense  of  duty,  self-restraint,  the  habit  of  obeying  law, 
and  the  capacity  and  readiness  to  act  together  for  public 
ends.     Free  government  is  a  school  of  all  the  manly 
virtues. 

38.  It  works  also  another  and  equally  important  re- 
sult :  It  maintains  peace  amid  change,  and  allows  the 
reform  of  evils  without  resort  to  revolution ;  because 
where  the  whole  people  take  part  in  electing  their  rulers 
and  law-makers,  all  feel  equally  bound  by  the  laws  at 
any  time  enacted,  and  if  any  feel  these  laws  oppressive, 
they  get  patience  from  the  knowledge  that  open  discus- 
sion will  in  time  bring  its  remedies.     Under  a  despotic 
government  wrongs  can  be  righted  only  by  violence 
and  revolution.     Under  a  free  government  like  ours,  all 
wrongs  can  be  rignted  by  argument.     Hence  the  freest 


USEFULNESS   OF  FREE   GOVERNMENT.  33 

government  is  likely  to  be  the  most  peaceable,  orderly, 
and  permanent. 

39.  Our  own  history,  compared  with  the  history  of 
other  nations,  proves  this  to  be  true.     We  enjoyed  un- 
broken peace  at  home  for  more  than  seventy-five  years, 
from  the  acknowledgment  of  our  independence  to  the 
year  1861,  and  in  that  time  were  engaged  in  but  two  in- 
significant foreign  wars. 

40.  Moreover,  the  war  of  the  rebellion  could  never 
have  happened  had  the  whole  people  of  the  Southern 
States  been  allowed  to  vote  for  or  against  secession  and 
rebellion — had  free  government  existed,  that  is  to  say, 
in  those  states.     For  that  part  of  the  people  who  were 
then  slaves  would  have  voted  unanimously  against  seces- 
sion ;  and  witli  free  and  fair  discussion — such  as  would 
have  been  had  the  negroes  strengthened  the  Union  vote 
—  no  state  would  have  cast  a  majority  for  secession, 
least  of  all  South  Carolina,  a  majority  of  whose  people 
were  blacks. 

41.  Free  government  is  troublesome  to  its  citizens,  be- 
cause it  imposes  upon  every  man  duties  of  a  public  nat- 
ure, to  which  he  must  give  time  and  intelligent  thought. 
In  the  measure  that  all  the  people  thus  give  up  time 
and  thought  to  their  political  duties,  in  the  same  de- 
gree will  their  government  be  justly  and  honestly  admin- 
istered.    Gross  selfishness,  such  as  leads  men  to  aban- 
don their  political  and  public  duties,  in  order  to  devote 
their  whole  time  and  energies  to  their  own  affairs  and 
pleasures,  is  therefore,  as  I  have  already  several  times 
pointed  out  to  you,  a  disgraceful  and  dangerous  vice  in 
the  citizen  of  a  republic. 

42.  A  despotism,  like  that  from  which  France  so  long 

P,  2 


34  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

suffered,  is  easily  endurable  to  the  meaner  kind  of  men, 
because  it  saves  them  from,  thought  upon  matters  con- 
cerning the  general  welfare.  A  despotic  ruler,  more- 
over, is  apt  to  attend  carefully  to  the  minor  conven- 
iences of  the  people :  he  provides  public  baths  for  them ; 
regulates  arbitrarily  the  price  of  provisions ;  prohibits 
monopolies  —  except  those  he  himself  enjoys;  and  in 
many  ways  does  for  them,  wastef  ully,  and  with  their  mon- 
ey— for  of  course  he  has  none  of  his  own — what  they 
ought  to  do  and  could  do  more  cheaply  for  themselves. 
Meantime  he  thus  makes  them  incapable  of  acting  in- 
telligently and  effectively  in  great  perils,  disables  them 
from  remedying  abuses,  demoralizes  them  by  encour- 
aging their  selfishness  and  love  of  pleasure,  and  thus  pre- 
pares the  way,  logically,  for  some  such  great  and  dis- 
graceful catastrophe  as  has  left  France  humiliated,  bur- 
dened with  debt,  with  the  loss  of  a  large  part  of  her 
territory,  and,  worse  than  all,  with  a  population  unfit  for 
self-government,  after  eighteen  years  of  what  a  multitude 
of  short-sighted  people  pronounced  a  "  splendid  reign." 
43.  A  wise  and  beneficent  despot  may  for  a  time 
greatly  and  rapidly  increase  the  material  welfare  of  a 
people ;  by  his  power  to  command  obedience,  he  may,  if 
he  lives  long  enough,  impose  upon  them  new  habits  of 
thought  and  action,  or  even  a  different  civilization ;  but 
it  is  always  at  the  expense  of  qualities  which  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  the  life  of  a  nation,  and  with  the 
result  of  leaving  his  subjects  unable  to  maintain  the  ex- 
istence of  society  if  the  despotic  head  should  be  sudden- 
ly removed,  or  if  the  state  should  suffer  serious  attack 
from  without.  Doubtless  the  Incas  greatly  benefited 
the  Peruvians,  among  whom  they  introduced  some  im- 


INCONVENIENCE   OF  FREE   GOVERNMENT.       35 

portant  arts  of  civilization.  But  under  the  despotic  rule 
they  established,  a  handful  of  Spaniards  not  only  over- 
threw the  government,  but  when  they  had  conquered 
the  rulers,  the  people,  too  long  the  subjects  of  despotism, 
lay  prostrate  at  their  feet,  and,  being  subjugated,  per- 
ished from  the  earth. 

44.  Thus  it  is  with  nations  as  with  individuals.     A 
boy  who  is  coddled  by  his  parents ;  who  sits  behind  the 
stove  in  winter  when  others  are  playing  in  the  snow ;  who 
lies  late  abed,  and  has  his  pockets  full  of  candy ;  who 
must  not  go  into  the  water  until  he  can  swim ;  and  whose 
precious  life  and  health  are  the  objects  of  his  own  and 
his  parents'  incessant   solicitude,  may  look  with  pity 
upon  his  neighbor,  who  runs  about  barefooted,  gets  up 
early  to  feed  the  cows,  has  few  clothes  and  no  candy* 
and  must  work  for  his  food ;  but  all  human  experience 
and  history  show  that  the  hardier  boy  has  by  far  the 
best  chance  of  becoming  a  useful  man,  and  making  an 
honorable  figure  in  the  world.     His  early  life  has  been 
full  of  inconveniences,  and  perhaps  disagreeables ;  but 
the  overcoming  of  these  has  hardened  his  frame,  train- 
ed his  will,  strengthened  the  moral  side  of  his  nature, 
and  prepared  him  thus  to  withstand  trials  and  tempta- 
tions under  which  his  tenderly  nurtured  neighbor  would 
sink. 

45.  I  wish  you  to  take  notice  that  there  are  in  every 
free  country  a  great  many  persons  to  whom  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  citizenship  are  irksome  ;  and  who, 
too  ignorant  or  thoughtless  to  see  the  evil  results  of 
dependence  on  a  government,  seek  to  avoid  temporary 
evils  and  inconveniences  by  delegating  to  the  government 
greater  powers,  and  seeking  to  establish  it  as  a  kind  of 


36  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

earthly  Providence,  to  guard  their  private  affairs,  and 
make  their  lives  easier. 

46.  Thus  we  in  this  country  do  not  yet  know  how  best 
to  manage  our  railroads ;  and  these  powerful  corpora- 
tions in  some  cases  have  oppressed  parts  of  our  popula- 
tion.    There  are  people  who  seek  to  cure  this  evil  by 
making  the  Federal  Government  take  possession  of  the 
railroads,  or  by  making  it  build  new  lines.    They  would, 
to  avoid  a  temporary  inconvenience,  put  the  transporta- 
tion of  products  into  the  hands  of  the  government ;  for- 
getting that  government  does  not  transact  even  its  le- 
gitimate work  economically  and  efficiently,  and  that  to 
put  the  vast  business  of  transportation  into  its  hands 
would  be  to  corrupt  it,  to  give  it  the  means  of  corrupting 
and  abusing  the  people;  to  give  to  a  bad  ruler  mon- 
strous power,  sure  to  be  wickedly  used ;  and,  after  all,  to 
secure  no  advantage  which  can  not  be  got  by  other  and 
safer  means. 

47.  In  like  manner  a  persistent  effort  has  been  made 
to  piut  the  business  of  telegraphing  into  the  hands  of  the 
Federal  Government.    But  not  only  would  the  purchase 
of  the  present  lines  be  very  costly,  and  their  manage- 
ment by  the  government  most  certainly  less  satisfactory 
than  now,  but  this  scheme  would  greatly  increase  the 
number  of  office-holders,  and  consequently  the  means 
of  corrupting  the  people.    What  is  of  yet  greater  mo- 
ment, it  would  give  to  the  party  in  power  entire  con- 
trol over  the  public  news,  and  enable  a  weak  or  an  un- 
scrupulous ruler — and  most  rulers  are  either  weak  or 
unscrupulous — to  poison  the  very  sources  of  public  opin- 
ion by  giving  false  or  partial  reports  of  passing  events, 
thus    making  the    people   incapable,  in   an  important 


USEFULNESS  OF  FREE   GOVERNMENT.  37 

emergency,  to  form  a  just  opinion  of  the  conduct  or 
misconduct  of  their  rulers. 

48.  In  France,  Napoleon  went  but  one  step  further  when 
he  regulated  the  price  of  bread,  and  forced  bakers  to 
sell  at  a  rate  fixed  by  himself.     No  doubt  it  was  a  con- 
venience to  a  poor  man  to  get  his  bread  for  less  than  it 
was  worth,  but  it  demoralized  him,  and  helped  to  make 
him  and  the  whole  population  incapable  of  independ- 
ent and  judicious  political  action. 

49.  In  some  of  our  cities  the  city  governments  own 
the  market  spaces  where  provisions  are  sold,  as  though 
there  was  any  more  reason  for  thus  controlling  the  mar- 
ket for  meat  than  for  dry -goods.     But  these  market- 
places, where  they  are  owned  by  a  city,  are  always  filthy, 
shamefully  mismanaged,  and  a  source  of  political  cor- 
ruption ;  and  the  only  clean  and  well-managed  markets 
we  have  are  those  in  private  hands. 


38  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 


VII. 

OF  THE  DIFFERENT  PARTS   OF  A    GOVERNMENT. 

50.  Government  falls  naturally  into  three  different 
departments :   That  part  which  makes  the  laws ;   that 
which  executes  them,  or  carries  them  into  effect ;  and 
that  which  administers  justice,  or  applies  the  laws  be- 
tween man  and  man. 

51.  In  a  rudely  organized  society  or  tribe,  the  chief  or 
head  man  assumes  all  these  functions :  he  gives  orders, 
which  are  the  laws;  he  enforces  these  orders;  and  he 
sits  as  judge  in  disputes  between  members  of  the  tribe. 
Under  any  despotism,  the  ruler  exercises  the  same  powers 
as  the  chief  of  a  tribe  of  savages;  but  necessarily  he  acts 
through  agents,  his  favorites,  who  make  life  still  less 
tolerable  to  the  subjects. 

52.  In  order  to  maintain  a  free  or  popular  govern- 
ment, it  is  necessary  that  these  powers  shall  be  lodged  in 
different  hands ;  that  the  body  which  makes  the  laws 
shall  have  nothing  to  do  with  their  enforcement;  and 
that  the  judges  shall  be  a  body  independent  of  both  the 
legislative  and  the  executive  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment.   Where  this  division  of  powers  is  well  established 
and  carefully  guarded,  if  at  the  same  time  the  nation 
has  sufficient  intelligence  and  public  spirit  to  hold  the 
rulers  it  chooses  to  a  strict  account,  a  people's  liberties 
are  reasonably  secure,  and  they  are  able  to  make  their 
government  as  honest  and  efficient  as  they  please  to  have 


OF  THE  DIFFERENT  PARTS   OF  A    GOVERNMENT.    39 

it.  For  at  the  elections  they  are  able  to  remove  those 
legislators  who  enacted  bad  laws,  or  that  executive  officer 
who  carelessly  or  wickedly  failed  in  the  proper  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws.  Thus  the  people  not  only  rule,  but 
are  easily  able  to  distinguish  where  the  fault  of  misgov- 
ernment  lies,  and  to  apply  the  remedy.  In  our  own 
government,  this  great  division  of  powers  is  very  clearly 
made :  in  the  Federal  Government,  Congress  enacts  the 
laws,  but  can  not  execute  or  enforce  them ;  the  President 
enforces  the  laws,  but  he  does  not  make  them ;  and  the 
courts  of  the  United  States  construe  the  Federal  laws, 
and  apply  them  in  disputed  cases. 

There  is  a  still  further  subdivision,  which  is  of  equal 
importance  to  good  government,  and  which  is  called 
DECENTRALIZATION. 


4:0  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


vni. 

OF  DECENTRALIZATION. 

53.  It  has  been  found  advisable,  by  experience,  to  still 
further  subdivide  the  powers  necessarily  intrusted  to 
government;  to  limit  the  general,  or,  as  it  is  usually 
called,  the  central  government,  to  the  performance  of 
certain  offices  or  duties  which  apply  equally  to  all  parts 
of  the  nation ;  and  to  confide  other  powers  and  duties, 
having  only  a  local  application,  to  subordinate,  but  in 
their  sphere  independent  governments. 

54.  Thus,  in  our  own  system,  the  Federal  Government 
at  Washington  exercises  powers  very  strictly  limited, 
leaving  others  to  the  state  governments ;  and  yet  others 
to  the  county  and  even  to  the  township  governments. 

55.  This  subdivision  of  power  and  authority  is  called 
DECENTRALIZATION  ;  and  experience  has  shown  that  this 
political  device  is  of  extreme  importance,  for  two  rea- 
sons :  First,  it  is  a  powerful  and  the  best  means  of  train- 
ing a  people  to  efficient  political  action  and  the  art  of 
self-government ;  and,  second,  it  presents  constant  and 
important  barriers  to  the  encroachment  of  rulers  upon 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  nation ;  every  subdivision 
forming  a  stronghold  of  resistance  by.  the  people  against 
unjust  or  wicked  rulers. 

56.  Take  notice  that  any  system  of  government  is  ex- 
cellent in  the  precise  degree  in  which  it  naturally  trains 
the  people  in   political   independence,  and   habituates 


OF  DECENTRALIZATION.  41 

them  to  take  an  active  part  in  governing  themselves. 
Whatever  plan  of  government  does  this  in  a  high  de- 
gree is  good — no  matter  what  it  may  be  called;  that 
which  avoids  this  is  necessarily  bad. 

57.  France  has  for  many  years  been  a  glaring  example 
of  a  most  vicious  system  of  government,  and  this  under 
the  so-called  republic  as  well  as  under  the  empire,  be- 
cause her  Republican  rulers,  as  much  as  her  emperors, 
rejected  decentralization  and  local  self-government,  and 
adhered  to  a  system  of  centralization,  which  made  and 
makes  liberty  impossible.     For  in  France  the  central 
government  appoints  all  the  local  officers,  and  the  con- 
dition there  is  as  though  the  President  of  the  United 
States  should  appoint  not  only  the  postmasters,  revenue 
and  law  officers,  who  are  properly  a  part  of  the  Federal 
executive,  but  also  the  governors  of  the  states,  the  mayors 
of  cities,  the  supervisors  of  counties,  and  even  the  jus- 
tices of  the  peace  and  local  police.    You  do  not  need  to 
think  profoundly  to  see   that  independence   and  free 
government  would  be  impossible  under  a  system  which 
thus  removed  the  pettiest  local  officers  from  the  censure 
and  condemnation  of  their  neighbors,  and  made  them 
responsible  only  to  the  chief  authority  at  Washington. 
The  first  time  we  had  a  bad  man  in  the  presidential 
chair  he  would  be  tempted  by  the  favorable  circum- 
stances to  play  the  part  of  Napoleon,  and  make  himself 
master  of  the  state.     Nor   could  the   people,  without 
great  difficulty,  and  probably  revolution,  resist  him. 

58.  To  make  liberty  secure,  the  powers  and  responsi- 
bilities of  the  executive  ought  to  be  plainly  limited  and 
defined ;  and  ought  to  be  such,  and  no  greater,  that  even 
a  bad  man  in  the  executive  chair  could  not,  during  the 

o 


42  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

term  for  which  he  is  chosen,  do  serious  detriment  to  the 
republic.  For  constitutions  are  made  to  guard  against 
bad  officers,  just  as  laws  are  made,  not  to  interfere  with 
the  good,  but  to  restrain  the  vicious. 


OF  THE  RESPONSIBILITY  OF  THE  EXECUTIVE.   43 


IX. 

OF  TEE  RESPONSIBILITY  OF  THE  EXECUTIVE. 

59.  The  executive  is  the  head  and  ruler  of  the  political 
community.     He  is  so  called  because  he  executes  or  en- 
forces the  laws  which  the  legislative  body  enacts.    With 
us  the  President  is  the  chief  executive  of  the  United 
States ;  the  governor  is  the  executive  head  of  a  state ;  and 
the  mayor  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  executive  head  of  a  city. 

60.  Large  powers  are  usually,  and  ought  always  to  be, 
given  to  an  executive  or  ruler ;  these  powers  should  be, 
and  in  constitutional  governments  are,  strictly  limited ; 
but  within  the  limits  fixed  in  the  constitution  the  ruler 
should  have  the  utmost  discretion ;  for  thus  only  can  he 
be  held  responsible  for  faithfully  executing  the  duties 
of  his  office.     Responsibility  can  never  be  greater  than 
the  authority  given.     Thus  you  can  see  that  to  tell  a 
general  to  win  a  battle,  and  leave  him  to  make  his  own 
plans,  is  to  fix  upon  him  a  large  responsibility,  because 
his  authority  is  practically  unlimited.    But  to  order  him 
to  win  a  battle  according  to  certain  plans  imposed  on 
him  by  a  council  of  war,  would  be  to  cramp  and  limit 
his  powers,  and  in  the  same  measure  to  lessen  his  re- 
sponsibility— for,  if  he  were  beaten,  he  might  justly  say 
that  the  plan  of  action  in  accordance  with  which  he  was 
compelled  to  fight  was  not  the  best,  and  that  defeat  was 
not  his  fault,  but  the  fault  of  the  council,  which  impaired 
his  liberty  of  action  ;  hence  he  would  not  probably  exert 
himself  to  the  utmost. 


44  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

61.  One  of  the  most  vicious  and  dangerous  defects  in 
a  scheme  of  government,  therefore,  is  a  mixed  and  ill- 
defined  responsibility.     Thus  if  the  executive  is  intrust- 
ed to  two  or  more  persons,  confusion  and  corruption  are 
sure  to  result,  because  it  is  then  impossible  to  fix  the 
blame  for  misconduct  upon  any  one  officer.     A  board 
or  commission,  as  an  executive  composed  of  a  number 
of  persons  is  called,  is  certain  to  be  both  inefficient  and 
corrupt.     This  is  because  it  is  more  difficult  to  bring 
several  persons  to  a  prompt  decision  than  one ;  and  be- 
cause the  blame  for  inefficiency  or  misconduct  is  shifted 
from  one  to  the  other,  to  the  confusion  of  the  public, 
which  can  not  tell  whom  to  punish. 

62.  It  is  another  vicious  defect  to  take  away  from  the 
executive  head  the  appointment  of  his  subordinates,  for 
he  can  not  justly  be  held  responsible  for  the  conduct  of 
persons  selected  by  others  than  himself ;  and  being  de- 
prived of  what  is  of  the  essence  of  just  authority,  he  is 
pretty  certain  to  lose  that  strong  interest  in  the  conduct 
of  affairs  which  he  is  compelled  to  feel  when  the  eyes 
of  the  people  are  fixed  upon  him  alone,  and  he  in  his 
single  person  is  held  responsible  for  the  administration 
of  the  public  business. 

63.  In  a  well-ordered  free  government,  therefore,  the 
executive  head,  being  chosen  for  a  specified  time,  and 
having  duties  and  powers  clearly  defined  and  limited, 
ought  to  possess  the  power  to  appoint  and  remove  his 
subordinates  at  will.    In  that  case  he  can  be  justly  held 
responsible  by  the  people  for  the  management  of  affairs. 

64.  In  our  own  Federal  Government,  the  Senate  has 
an  advisory  power  in  regard  to  appointments  made  by 
the  President  (but  none  as  to  removals) ;  and  to  that  ex- 


OF  THE  RESPONSIBILITY  OF  THE  EXECUTIVE.  45 

tent  the  Senate  is  a  part  of  the  executive.  This  power 
was  given  in  the  Constitution,  because  those  who  framed 
that  instrument  were  more  fearful  of  the  tyranny  of  a 
despotic  executive  than  of  the  worse,  because  less  re- 
sponsible, tyranny  of  a  numerous  body  like  the  Senate ; 
and  believed  it  necessary  to  guard  with  especial  care 
against  usurpation  of  power  by  the  President.  If  they 
lived  at  this  day,  they  would  probably  wish  to  remove 
even  this  slight  check  upon  the  appointing  power,  be- 
cause they  would  see  that  there  is  but  little  reason  to 
fear  an  attack  upon  our  liberties  by  the  President,  who 
has  a  limited  time  to  serve,  and  may  be  impeached  for 
misgovernment ;  while  it  becomes  constantly  more  desir- 
able to  fix  responsibility  for  misgovernment  upon  a  sin- 
gle pei-son,  in  order  that  the  people  may  more  easily  un- 
derstand upon  whom  and  how  to  visit  the  punishment. 

65.  During  the  administration  of  President  Johnson, 
the  Congress  adopted  a  "  tenure  of  office "  law,  which 
prohibited  removals  from  office  by  the  President  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Senate.  The  result  was,  how- 
ever, not  permanence  in  office,  but  the  removal  of  many 
good  officers  who  had  fallen  under  the  President's  dis- 
like, and  the  appointment  in  their  places  of  incompetent 
men  who  were  favorites  of  senators  or  representatives, 
and  to  get  whom  into  place  they  persuaded  the  Senate 
to  agree  to  removals.  Tims  the  public  service  was  de- 
bauched, and  yet  the  President  was  able  to  say  that  he 
had  the  countenance  of  the  Senate  in  this  work ;  and 
blame  could  not  be  fastened  upon  him  alone.  A  more 
wily  and  unscrupulous  president  than  Mr.  Johnson  might 
have  very  gravely  injured  the  public  service  under  this 
law,  and  still  managed  to  escape  blame. 


4:6  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

66.  It  is  proper  to  repeat  to  you  that  the  powers  and 
authority  of  the  Executive  under  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution are  so  limited  that  even  the  worst  man  in  that 
office  can  not,  without  exposing  himself  to  impeachment 
and  removal^  cause  serious  harm  to  the  republic  during 
his  term  of  office ;  and  that  the  unjust  exercise  of  the 
powers  which  of  right  belong  to  him  would  make  him 
so  odious  to  the  people  that  they  would  at  the  end  of 
his  term  refuse  to  re-elect  him.     The  easiest  way  to  de- 
feat this  proper  result  would  be  to  place  checks  upon 
him,  which  would  make  him  irresponsible  for  misgov- 
ernment  in  the  eyes  of  the  people. 

67.  Most  of  our  state  constitutions  and  many  city 
charters  are  faulty  in  this,  that  they  deprive  the  chief 
executive  of  the  power  to  appoint  even  his  most  impor- 
tant subordinates.     This  is  done  on  the  plea  that  the 
people,  who  are  made  to  elect  these  subordinates,  have 
thus  greater  power;  but,  as  I  shall  show  you  farther 
on,  this  is  a  great  mistake,  and  the  cause  of  constant 
corruption  in  our  local  politics. 


OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES. 


X. 

OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES. 

68.  In  a  free  state  there  are  usually  two  political  par- 
ties. 

69.  These  have  different  names,  but  their  motives  are 
independent  of  names ;  and  it  may  be  said  that  one  of 
the  two  great  parties  in  a  free  state  is  composed  of  men 
who  desire  change,  and  the  other  of  men  who  cling  to 
that  which  is.     As  temperaments  differ,  so   men   are 
either  Whigs  or  Democrats,  Democrats  or  Republicans, 
according  as  their  characters  lead  them  to  be  conserv- 
ative, dreading  change  even  when  it  is  for  the  better, 
or  progressive,  welcoming  change  even  if  it  is  for  the 
worse. 

70.  There  is,  however,  in  every  free  state  a  third  par- 
ty, little  heard  of,  without  organization,  which  does  not 
seek  office,  holds  no  meetings,  and  owns  no  banners.    It 
holds  the  balance  of  power,  and  it  silently  decides  the 
elections,  and  on  the  whole  in  the  right  way.     This 
party  is  composed  of  the  citizens  who  think  for  them- 
selves, who  look  on  at  the  strife  little  moved  by  partisan 
appeals,  and  on  election  day  deposit  their  votes  for  the 
man  or  the  policy  which  on  the  whole  appears  to  them 
likely  to  best  further  the  good  of  the  state.     Tin's  party 
is  the  terror  of  professional  politicians,  and  often  their 
confusion.     The  larger  it  is  in  any  community,  the  bet- 
ter will  public  affairs  be  managed,  for  it  is  this  party 


4:8  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

which  punishes  inefficiency,  corruption,  or  maladminis- 
tration of  any  kiud,  defeats  the  caucuses  and  scratches 
tickets  when  corrupt  men  are  nominated.  It  is  to  this 
party  I  wish  you  to  belong,  whether  you  are  a  Demo- 
crat or  a  Republican. 

71.  Party  government  is  necessary  in  a  free  state. 
The  organization  of  political  parties  is  the  only  means 
by  which  the  sense  of  the  people  can  be  got  at  elections 
npon  questions  of  public  policy ;  and  by  party  govern- 
ment only  can  responsibility  be  fixed  upon  political  lead- 
ers, so  that  these  may  receive  approval  or  condemnation. 
A  non-partisan  government  is  the  dream  of  weak  and 
amiable  men ;  it  belongs  to  an  ideal  condition,  in  which 
all  men  shall  be  unselfish,  and  sincerely  desirous  of  the 
public  good.  In  the  present  condition  of  mankind,  a 
non-partisan  government — one  in  which  both  or  all  po- 
litical party  leaders  should  share — would  be,  and  has  been 
wherever  it  was  tried,  only  an  admirable  and  effective 
device  to  conceal  corruption,  because  it  becomes  then 
the  interest  of  the  leaders  of  both  parties  to  cover  up 
wrong,  both  having  their  share  of  public  plunder.  Non- 
partisan  boards  were  a  favorite  device  of  Tweed  and  the 
New  York  City  Ring. 

Y2.  A  political  party  appeals  to  the  citizens  with  what 
we  call  a  platform,  which  means  a  statement  of  the  pol- 
icy it  desires  to  see  carried  out.  Necessarily  it  also 
nominates  men  to  enforce  this  policy  in  case  they  are 
elected  by  the  people. 

73.  If  party  leaders  always  declared  their  opinions 
and  intentions  openly  and  honestly,  and  if  they  nomi- 
nated only  their  most  capable  men,  the  duty  of  the  cit- 
izen would  be  very  simple.  But  a  political  platform 


OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  49 

is  often  an  ingenious  jumble  of  words,  intended  to  at- 
tract men  of  opposite  sentiments,  and  naturally  candi- 
dates nominated  on  such  platforms  are  not  likely  to  be 
men  famous  for  positive  principles.  In  such  cases  the 
citizen  has  to  choose  the  least  of  two  evils,  and  take 
comfort  in  the  thought  that  a  country  is  not  badly  off  in 
which  the  people  do  not  find  it  necessary  to  decide  upon 
vital  principles.  It  is  quite  certain  that  in  a  free  gov- 
ernment like  oui-s  inefficiency  or  corruption  will  be 
punished  by  the  people  just  as  soon  as  they  become  real- 
ly dangerous  to  the  nation.  Reform  of  evils  is  a  slow 
work  in  a  free  state;  because  the  mass  of  the  people 
are  engrossed  in  their  own  affairs,  and  conservative  in 
their  habits  of  thought,  which  means  that  they  dislike 
great  and  sudden  changes,  even  if  they  appear  to  be  im- 
provements. This  spirit  is  an  admirable  one :  though 
often  inconvenient  and  sometimes  costly,  it  gives  stabil- 
ity to  political  and  social  institutions ;  and  stability  is 
a  main  condition  of  progress.  Thus  the  people  of  the 
United  States  came  very  slowly  to  the  opinion  that  slav- 
ery ought  to  be  extirpated.  A  beneficent  despot  might 
have  set  the  slaves  free  by  a  single  mandate ;  but  as 
lie  would  have  acted  regardless  of  the  opinions  of  the 
mass  of  the  people,  his  edict  would  probably  have  caused 
a  revolution,  or  at  least  grave  and  long-continued  disor- 
ders ;  whereas,  in  our  slow  republican  way,  we  discussed 
the  question  for  thirty  years;  but  when  slavery  struck 
at  the  national  life,  the  nation  presently  consented  to 
abolish  the  evil. 

C 


50  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XL 

WHO   VOTE,  AND  WET. 

74.  Women,  minors,  paupers,  and  insane  persons  have 
no  vote  in  the  United  States. 

75.  In  some  countries  the  electoral  franchise,  as  the 
right  to  vote  is  called,  is  still  further  limited  to  persons 
who  can  read  and  write,  or  to  persons  possessing  a  spec- 
ified amount  of  property,  or  paying  a  certain  annual 
rent  for  the  premises  they  occupy. 

76.  Property  qualifications  originally  obtained  in  a 
number  of  our  states,  but  they  have  gradually  been  abol- 
ished. 

77.  An  educational  qualification  is  proposed  in  some 
states,  and  will  probably  be  adopted  in  many  within  the 
next  few  years.      Where   public    or  free   schools  are 
made  accessible  to  the  whole  population,  there  would  be 
no  injustice  in  requiring  that  only  those  shall  vote  who 
can  both  read  and  write. 

78.  Minors,  or  persons  under  age,  and  paupers  are 
not  allowed  to  vote  because  they  are  dependent ;  and  it 
is  presumable  that  they  would  vote  under  coercion,  and 
not  according  to  their  independent  judgment.     More- 
over, a  person  incapable  of  managing  his  private  busi- 
ness ought  not  to  have  a  voice  or  influence  in  pub- 
lic affairs.     It  is  probable  that  women  are  denied  the 
vote  for  the  same  reason — because  the  greater  part  of 
them  are  in  a  dependent  condition ;  and  the  law  takes 


WHO   VOTE,  AND    WHY.  51 

no  note  of  exceptions.  Of  late  there  has  arisen  in  this 
country  and  England  a  vigorous  discussion  of  the  pro- 
priety of  woman  suffrage ;  at  the  same  time  that  women 
have,  in  far  greater  numbers  than  ever  before,  become 
independent  laborers — which  is  a  calamity  to  themselves 
and  to  society. 

79.  General  manhood  suffrage,  which  prevails  in  the 
United  States,  is  required  by  justice,  and  is  necessary  to 
the  perpetuation  of  peace  in  a  community  or  nation.    By 
his  vote  each  man  has  his  influence  upon  those  affairs 
which  are  common  to  all  the  citizens ;  if  he  is  outvoted, 
he  is  still  satisfied,  because  it  was  his  hope  to  outvote 
his  opponents,  and  it  is  his  hope  to  have  the  majority 
with,  him  at  another  time. 

80.  It  is  sometimes  urged  that  only  those  who  possess 
property  ought  to  be  allowed  to  vote  taxes  and  appro- 
priations for  public  purposes.     This  proposition  has  an 
appearance  of  justice;  but,  besides  being  impracticable, 
it  rests  upon  a  wrong  view  of  society.     It  supposes  a 
degree  of  meanness  and  bad  spirit  in  the  poor,  and  of 
intelligence  and  liberality  in  the  wealthy,  which  we  do 
not  find  in  actual  life;  and  it  would  facilitate  a  division 
of  men  into  classes,  the  poor  arrayed  against  the  rich, 
which,  if  it  existed,  would  make  free  government  al- 
most if  not  quite  impossible. 

81.  Suppose  even  that  the  poor  were  not  only  the  most 
numerous,  but  also  the  least  intelligent  and  the  most 
selfish,  which  is  not  true :  it  is  still  a  fact  that  the  rich 
and  intelligent  possess  great  influence  over  their  poorer 
neighbors,  by  reason  of  their  greater  means  and  knowl- 
edge, which  it  is  their  duty  to  use  for  the  general  good. 
Any  regulation  which  would  make  it  unnecessary  for 


52  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

them  to  use  this  influence,  or  to  take  that  part  in  polit- 
ical affairs  which  is  necessary  to  give  them  their  natural 
and  just  predominance  (arising  from  the  possession  of 
wealth  and  intelligence),  would  be  an  injury  to  the  com- 
monwealth. 

82.  If  general  manhood  suffrage  any  where  leads  the 
poor  to  vote  money  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  rich,  waste- 
fully,  or  for  needless  or  corrupt  purposes,  the  reason  is 
that  the  rich-have  abdicated  their  proper  place  and  in- 
fluence in  political  society,  and  have  selfishly  given  them- 
selves to  mere  money-getting  or  a  life  of  pleasure,  by 
which  they  endanger  not  only  themselves,  but,  what  is 
of  greater  consequence,  the  stability  of  the  community. 
It  is  an  additional  argument  in  favor  of  general  suf- 
frage if  it  compels  the  wealthy  and  intelligent,  as  an  act 
of  unavoidable  self-defense,  to  exercise  that  influence  in 
political  affairs  which  justly  and  naturally  belongs  to 
them ;  and  if  it  reminds  them  that  their  prosperous  for- 
tunes bring  with  them  duties  and  responsibilities. 

83.  Take  notice  that  a  free  state  or  republic  can  not 
remain  prosperous  if  the  more  fortunate  of  its  citizens 
withdraw  themselves  from   political  duties  to   devote 
their  lives  to  money-getting  or  to  pleasure.     Take  no- 
tice, too,  that  when  a  rich  man  complains  that  his  poorer 
neighbors — many  of  whom  he  probably  employs — vote 
against  his  interest,  you  will  find  that  he  conducts  him- 
self toward  them  selfishly,  and  thus  loses  the  influence 
which  his  wealth  naturally  gives  him  if  he  rightly  uses  it. 

84.  Under  our  system  the  states  have  the  exclusive 
power  of  declaring,  each  for  itself,  which  of  the  citizens 
shall  vote ;  being  prohibited  only  from  excluding  per- 
sons on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 


WHO    VOTE,  AND    WHY.  53 

slavery.  They  can  not,  however,  give  the  franchise  in- 
discriminately, for  the  Federal  Government  has  the  ex- 
clusive authority  to  declare  who  shall  be  citizens.  Thus 
no  state  could  allow  Chinese  to  vote,  because  these  peo- 
ple are  not  capable,  under  the  laws  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, of  becoming  citizens.  But  any  state  may  adopt 
an  educational  or  property  franchise  or  condition,  only 
making  it  equally  applicable  to  all  its  citizens. 


54  POLITICS   FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XII. 

WHAT  OFFICERS  SHOULD  NOT  BE  ELECTED. 

85.  In  order  to  enable  the  people  to  take  an  intelli- 
gent and  real  interest  in  politics,  it  is  necessary  that 
they  shall  have  to  elect  but  a  few  persons. 

86.  The  persons  who  compose  the  law-making  body 
ought  to  be  elected,  and  at  frequent  intervals,  in  order 
that  they  may  come  fresh  from  the  people,  and  know 
their  will. 

87.  The  executive  head  of  the  community,  be  he  Pres- 
ident, Governor,  or  Mayor,  ought  to  be  elected  by  the 
people,  and  probably  at  less  frequent  intervals  than  the 
legislative  body,  as  our  Federal  Constitution  provides, 
because  thus  the  government  gains  in  stability  of  pur- 
pose, without  danger  to  liberty. 

88.  The  judges  ought  in  na  case  to  be  elected,  but 
should  be  appointed  for  life  or  good  behavior  by  the 
executive.     Thus  only  can  the  majesty  and  dignity  of 
the  courts  of  justice  be  maintained.     It  is  absurd  and 
wicked  to  degrade  a  judge  by  forcing  him  to  appeal  to 
the  voters  for  election ;  because  justice  has  nothing  to 
do  with  political  parties,  and  ought  to  be  beyond  the  in- 
fluence of  partisan  strife.     A  court  does  not  deal  with 
policies,  but  with  principles. 

89.  It  is  sometimes  urged  that  a  President  or  Gov- 
ernor or  Mayor  may  appoint  an  improper  person  as 
judge;  and  this  is  true;  but  even  a  bad  man,  placed 


WHAT  OFFICERS  SHOULD  NOT  BE  ELECTED.  55 

for  life  in  an  exalted  and  entirely  independent  position, 
is  likely  to  conduct  himself  well ;  and  an  executive  of- 
ficer, though  he  might  make  a  careless  or  bad  appoint- 
ment to  a  temporary  office,  will  think  twice  before  he 
selects  for  a  life  office,  and  one  so  important  as  a  judge- 
ship,  a  man  whose  career,  if  it  should  be  disgraceful, 
would  be  a  constant  reproach  to  him  who  created  him 
judge. 

90.  The  officers  subordinate  to  the  executive  ought  not 
to  be  elected,  but  appointed  by  their  chief.     Otherwise 
there  is  confusion  in  the  government,  because  chief  and 
subordinates  deriving  their  authority  from   the  same 
source,  election,  there  arises  necessarily  division  of  re- 
sponsibility, and  the  public  business  is  left  undone  or  is 
corruptly  done. 

91.  The  provisions  of  our  Federal  Constitution  are 
very  wise  upon  this  point.     The  President  may  appoint 
and  remove  even  so  low  a  grade  of  officers  as  postmas- 
ters and  minor  revenue  officers.     It  has  sometimes  been 
proposed  to  make  the  place  of  Postmaster  elective — but 
to  do  so  would  be  to  make  these  officers  irresponsible ; 
and  as  the  President  could  not  remove  them  for  incom- 
petency  or  corruption,  because  they  would  hold  their 
places  independently  of  him,  and  from  the  same  source 
which  gave  him  his,  you  can  easily  see  that  the  Post-of- 
fice Department  would  be  exposed  to  the  grossest  mis- 
management, without  the  possibility  of  a  remedy. 

92.  What  is  true  of  this  is  true  of  all  the  executive 
departments.     No  officers  charged  with  enforcing  the 
laws  ought  to  be  elected,  because  they  would  thus  be 
independent  of  their  chief,  be  he  President,  Governor,  or 
Mayor.     The  business  of  a  government  does  not  differ 


56  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

in  this  respect  from  that  of  a  merchant  or  a  railroad 
company;  and  no  merchant  could  successfully  conduct 
his  business  if  his  clerks,  bookkeeper,  and  porters  were 
appointed  and  removable,  not  by  himself,  but  by  his  cus- 
tomers. 

93.  But  in  many  of  our  states  this  blunder  is  made ; 
and  the  people  are  obliged  to  elect  many  minor  executive 
officers,  and  even  those  persons  who  form  the  cabinet  of 
the  Governor ;  and,  as  though  to  breed  the  extreme  of 
confusion,  in  New  York  and  some  other  states  these  sub- 
ordinate officers  are  chosen  at  different  times  from  their 
nominal  chief,  and  are  thus  not  merely  independent  of 
his  will,  but  often  his  political  opponents,  disagreeing 
with  his  policy,  and  naturally  inclined  to  make  him  in- 
efficient by  opposing  or  carelessly  carrying  out  his  orders. 

94.  This  foolish  system  makes  government  difficult, 
favors   corruption,  and  screens  inefficiency,  because  it 
divides  responsibility  among  many  persons ;  and  it  is 
the  cause  of  almost  all  the  misgovernment  from  which 
so  many  of  our  states  and  cities  have  suffered  and  are 
still  suffering. 

95.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  device  of  ingenious  po- 
litical demagogues,  helped,  as  these  usually  are,  by  well- 
meaning  but  ignorant  people,  who  were  taken  with  the 
plausible  appeal  that  to  make  the  people  elect  all  their 
officers  would  be  to  give  them  more  power  over  public 
affairs.     So  long  as  it  is  tolerated  in  any  part  of  our 
political  system,  so  long  the  baser  sort  of  politicians  will 
continue  to  impose  their  "  slates  "  upon  the  voters,  dis- 
able these  from  exercising  an  intelligent  control  over 
their  rulers,  and  make  government  a  mockery. 

96.  For,  the  people,  busy  with  their  own  affairs,  have 


WHAT  OFFICERS  SHOULD  NOT  BE  ELECTED.    57 

not  leisure  to  scrutinize  the  characters  of  a  number  of 
candidates  presented  to  them  on  the  same  ticket;  the 
press,  occupied  with  a  great  variety  of  public  interests 
and  questions,  is  equally  disabled.  Every  man,  of  per- 
haps a  dozen,  on  a  ticket,  uses  his  influence  to  elect  all 
the  others,  bad  and  good,  as  well  as  himself,  and  thus 
the  popular  vote  is  stultified.  See  how  different  is  the 
case  in  a  presidential  election.  Then  the  people  are 
asked  to  vote  for  but  three  persons — the  President, 
Vice-President,  and  a  Member  of  Congress;  and  the 
character,  abilities,  political  principles,  and  history  of 
these  three  individuals  receive  the  closest  scrutiny  from 
the  press  and  public  speakers  during  the  canvass,  so  that 
every  fault  or  evidence  of  unfitness  is  brought  to  light, 
and  the  people  have  a  fair  chance  to  vote  intelligently. 

97.  Only  the  chief  executive  officer,  in  any  system, 
ought  to  1)0  elected  by  the  people ;  and  upon  him  should 
be  placed  the  grave  responsibility  of  selecting  the  sub- 
ordinates by  whose  help  he  is  to  carry  on  the  public 
business.  If  then  he  fails,  he  and  his  party  may  fairly 
be  held  responsible  by  the  people,  and  punished  at  the 
next  election. 

02 


58  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XIII. 

OF  POLITICAL   CONSTITUTIONS. 

98.  A  political  Constitution  is  the  instrument  or  com- 
pact in  which  the  rights  of  the  people  who  adopt  it,  and 
the  powers  and  responsibilities  of  their  rulers,  are  de- 
scribed, and  by  which  they  are  fixed. 

99.  The  chief  object  of  a  constitution  is  to  limit  the 
power  of  majorities. 

100.  A  moment's  reflection  will  tell  you  that  mere  ma- 
jority rule,  unlimited,  would  be  the  most  grinding  of 
tyrannies ;   the   minority  at  any  time  would  be  mere 
slaves,  whose  rights  to  life,  property,  and  comfort  no  one 
who  chose  to  join  the  majority  would  be  bound  to  respect. 

101.  It  is  the  object  of  constitutions  to  protect  minor- 
ities in  certain  common  rights,  and  to  restrain  the  pow- 
er of  majorities,  who  may  do,  or  enact,  or  cause  to  be 
done,  only  what  in  any  case  the  Constitution  permits ; 
and  have  no  right,  no  matter  how  numerically  strong 
they  may  be,  to  invade  the  minority  in  those  rights  which 
the  Constitution  secures  to  all  the  citizens. 

102.  Out  of  this  thought  grow  all  the  provisions  of  a 
political  Constitution — as,  for  instance,  under  our  own, 
no  majority  can  deprive  a  criminal  of  trial  by  jury,  or 
elect  its  candidates  for  longer  than  a  prescribed  term, 
or  deprive  the  minority  of  life  or  property  by  unequal 
laws,  or  enact  laws  contrary  to  the  provisions  or  outside 
of  the  limitations  of  the  Constitution. 


OF  POLITICAL  CONSTITUTIONS,  59 

^ 

103.  It  is  a  merit  in  any  constitution  to  be  brief,  and 
to  state  only  general  rules  or  principles,  to  be  applied 
practically  by  the  law-making  power ;  because  thus  this 
instrument,  which  ought  to  be  but  rarely  and  cautiously 
altered,  is  more  elastic,  and  more  easily  applied  to  chang- 
ing circumstances,  and  to  a  great  variety  of  life.  It  is 
the  proper  function  of  a  constitution,  for  instance,  to 
declare  the  term  during  which  a  President,  a  Member 
of  Congress,  or  a  Governor  shall  hold  office,  for  that  may 
and  ought  to  be  a  permanent  regulation ;  but  it  would 
be  an  error  to  fix  in  the  constitution  the  amount  of  sal- 
ary either  ought  to  receive ;  or  even  to  prohibit  the  re- 
election of  an  officer,  for  circumstances  may  occur  mak- 
ing it  expedient  to  re-elect.  For  instance,  had  the  so- 
called  "  one-term  principle,"  which  is  not  a  principle  at 
all,  but  a  mere  foolish  expedient,  been  incorporated  in 
our  Constitution,  we  should  not  have  re-elected  Mr.  Lin- 
coln in  1864,  an  event  which  did  more  than  any  battle 
to  bring  the  war  to  an  end,  by  convincing  the  South- 
ern people  that  the  Federal  policy  would  not  suffer 
change.  It  has  become  a  tradition  having  the  force  of 
a  Constitutional  provision  that  the  President  shall  not 
be  chosen  for  a  third  term.  The  example  set  by  Gen- 
eral Washington,  in  this  respect,  is  likely  to  be  followed  ; 
for  if  any  President  desired  a  third  term,  this  would  be 
plain  proof  of  inordinate  and  dangerous  ambition  in 
him,  rendering  him  unfit  for  the  office  ;  and  if  in  such  a 
case  a  President  used  the  power  of  his  patronage  to  pro- 
cure a  nomination,  it  would  be  wise  to  vote  against  him 
at  every  hazard.  But  it  is  a  proper  constitutional  regu- 
lation that  salaries  shall  not  be  increased  or  diminished 
during  the  term  of  the  incumbent ;  for  a  salary  is  in  the 


60  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

nature  of  a  contract,  and  ought  to  be  beyond  the  reach 
of  increase  from  corruption,  or  diminution  from  party 
malevolence.  It  is  proper  that  the  Constitution  should 
prohibit  human  slavery ;  but  it  is  better  to  declare  by 
laws  not  only  the  penalties  for  smuggling,  theft,  etc., 
but  also  what  constitutes  these  and  other  crimes — except 
treason,  which,  being  a  purely  political  offense,  its  defi- 
nition ought  to  be  immutably  fixed,  as  it  is  in  our  Fed- 
eral Constitution,  and  not  left  to  the  political  passions 
of  any  period.  But  even  here  Congress,  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, is  wisely  charged  to  declare  the  penalty  of  treason. 
Again,  it  is  proper  that  the  Constitution  should  create  a 
Supreme  Court,  as  ours  does ;  but  it  would  be  unwise 
that  it  should  also  fix  the  number  or  location  of  minor 
courts,  because  as  the  country  grows  these  may  have  to 
be  increased ;  and  accordingly  our  Constitution  leaves 
Congress  to  establish  these  minor  courts. 


OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  OR  LAW-MAKING  BRANCH.   (J 


XIV. 

OF  TEE  LEGISLATIVE  OR  LAW-MAKING  BRANCH. 

104.  Legislative  bodies  have  usually  two  Houses,  as  in 
our  Congress  and  state  Legislatures.     In  the  Federal 

o  <~J 

Congress,  the  Senators  are  chosen  by  the  Legislatures  of 
the  different  states,  and  are  supposed  to  represent  the 
states,  while  the  representatives  are  chosen  directly  by 
the  people  in  districts. 

105.  Action  in  a  law-making  body  means  change ; 
and  laws  ought  to  be  changed  seldom,  and  never  with- 
out full  discussion  and  consideration. 

106.  All  the  arrangements  of  modern  legislative  bod- 
ies in  free  nations  are  wisely  made  to  secure  these  ends. 
Thus  we  have  two  Houses,  each  of  which  must  separate- 
ly discuss  and  agree  to  a  bill  before  it  can  become  a  law ; 
one  of  those  Houses  chosen  by  a  different  set  of  electors 
or  for  a  longer  term  than  the  other ;  the  executive  veto— 
which,  bear  in  mind,  is  solely  to  ask  the  two  Houses  to 
reconsider  their  bill,  and  not  at  all  to  obstruct  or  abrogate 
the  law — for  when  it  once  becomes  a  law  in  spite  of  his 
veto,  the  executive  is  bound  to  enforce  it.    To  the  panic 
end  are  all  the  Parliamentary  rules  and  forms  which 
cause  delay  in  the  passage  of  new  laws. 

107.  All  these  are  wholesome  and  necessary  checks 
on  the  law-making  power.     It  is  therefore  a  great  blun- 
der to  accuse  Congress  or  a  state  Legislature,  as  incon- 
siderate people  sometimes  do,  of  "wasting  time  in  de- 


62  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

bate."  A  representative  body  is  never  so  usefully  em- 
ployed as  when  engaged  in  discussing  the  measures  be- 
fore it ;  and  it  is  never  so  dangerous  to  the  people  as 
when  the  majority  are  strong  enough  to  prevent  de- 
bate, and  pass  laws  by  the  mere  overwhelming  force  of 
votes ;  because  laws  so  passed,  without  discussion — which 
means  examination — are  likely  to  be  unwise. 

108.  Another  reproach  which  is  sometimes  cast  at  our 
legislative  bodies  is  that  the  ablest  men  are  not  chosen 
to  seats.    But  our  Congress  and  Legislatures  do  not  pre- 
tend to  be  collections  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  nation. 
They  are  representative  bodies ;  and  the  delegates  are 
supposed  to  represent  the  constituencies.     When,  there- 
fore, you  see  a  quiet  and  perhaps  dull  old  farmer  sent  to 
the  House  from  some  Western  district,  comfort  your- 
self with  the  reflection  that  he  represents  the  agricultur- 
al interest.     He  may  not  be  intellectually  greatly  above 
his  constituents  —  but  that  is  a  very  good  thing.     He 
knows  how  to  speak  from  their  stand-point — and  they 
have  a  right  to  be  heard.      If  the  .people  of  any  dis- 
trict send  a  fool  or  an  unfit  or  incapable  person,  that  is 
their  risk  :  they  leave  themselves  without  influence  in 
the  House — just  as  a  New  York  district  was,  when  once 
it  sent  John  Morrissey  as  its  representative.     Our  Con- 
gress does  not  contain  the  most  brilliant  men  in  the 
nation,  nor  all  the  ablest  men ;  but  it  has  a  great  body 
of  solid  ability  always ;  and  it  is  the  better  for  contain- 
ing little  genius. 

109.  Any  one  who  is  familiar  with  Washington  or 
our  state   capitals  knows  that  constituencies  gain  im- 
mensely in  political  power  by  sending  able  men  as  dele- 
gates, and  lose  when  they  send  demagogues ;  and  also 


OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  OR  LAW-MAKING  BRANCH.   63 

that  the  influence  of  a  political  district  may  be  very 
much  increased  by  keeping  the  same  man  a  long  time  in 
its  service.  It  could  be  easily  shown,  for  instance,  that 
the  residents  of  Mr.  Elaine's  district  in  Maine,  or  of  Mr. 
Dawes's  in  Massachusetts,  or  of  Mr.  Cox's  in  New  York, 
have  during  the  last  six  or  seven  years  exercised  a  great 
deal  more  than  their  proportion  of  influence  over  the 
condition  and  laws  of  the  country,  because  these  expe- 
rienced and  skillful  men  knew  how  to  guide  legislation. 
But  if  the  people  in  any  district  or  state  choose,  negli- 
gently or  perversely,  to  send  only  inexperienced  or  in- 
capable men,  that  is  their  business  and  their  loss.  Remem- 
ber always  that  ours  is  a  representative  government,  and 
not  a  government  of  the  ablest  men ;  and  that  if  there 
is  any  where  a  constituency  composed  mainly  of  foolish 
or  ignorant  or  misguided  people,  they  have  a  right  to  be 
heard,  and  their  folly,  whether  it  is  a  foolishness  of 
irredeemable  paper- money,  or  of  Grangerism,  or  of 
Trades- Union  ism,  or  what  not,  is'  likely  to  be  the  sooner 
exploded  if  it  is  officially  displayed  in  Congress,  and 
there  subjected  to  the  fi'-e  of  open  criticism. 


64  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XV. 

OF  TOWN  MEETINGS. 

110.  A  town,  or  township,  is  the  smallest  political  sub- 
division we  recognize.     The  school  district  is  only  to 
regulate  the  free  school.     The  wards  in  cities  are  the 
equivalents  of  the  townships  in  the  country. 

111.  When  the  people  of  a  town  (or  township,  as  they 
say  in  most  of  the  states)  meet  together  annually  to  dis- 
cuss the  affairs  of  their  township,  to  elect  its  officers, 
appropriate  the  money  required  to  carry  on  its  affairs, 
criticise  what  has  been  done  or  left  undone  in  the  past 
year,  and  to  declare,  after  discussion,  what  shall  be  done 
or  left  undone  "in  its  local  concerns  during  the  year  to 
come — that  is  a  Town  Meeting. 

112.  In  such  a  place  each  citizen  has  opportunity  to 
bring  up  such  suggestions  as  he  pleases,  recommending 
them  with  his  best  ability;  there  alone  the  people  act 
directly,  and  not  by  delegates ;  and  by  this  democratic 
parliament  the  local  affairs  of  the  township — its  roads, 
schools,  police,  health — can  and  will  be  the  most  effi- 
ciently and  economically  managed. 

113.  The  town  meetings  have  been  called  the  nurse- 
ries of  free  government,'  because  in  them  the  people 
learn  the  art  of  self-government ;  public  spirit  is  devel- 
oped, because  each  citizen  may  exercise  a  direct  influ- 
ence upon  affairs  with  which  he  is  familiar;  men  be- 
come skilled  in  debate,  and,  what  is  more  important, 


OF  TOWN  MEETINGS.  65 

learn  to  submit  quietly  to  the  majority  when  that  hap- 
pens to  decide  against  their  wishes.  In.  those  states 
where  town  meetings  are  held,  they  have  always  had  an 
important  influence  upon  the  political  character  of  the 
population.  Unfortunately  in  most  of  our  states  the 
town  meeting  is  unknown  or  has  fallen  into  disuse,  and 
the  powers  which  it  ought  to  exercise  are  scattered 
among  county  and  district  officers,  to  the  destruction  of 
one  of  our  most  important  political  organizations. 


66  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XVI. 

OF  EDUCATION. 

114.  A  certain  degree  of  intelligence  is  necessary  to 
make  a  man  a  good  citizen  of  a  free  state.     Experience 
has  proved  that  an  elementary  education  is  very  helpful 
to   any  one  in  acquiring  this  degree  of  intelligence; 
though,  pray  remark,  it  is  not  absolutely  essential  nor 
absolutely  effective  in  all  cases — for  both  you  and  I 
know  a  man  who  can  neither  read  nor  write,  but  whose 
good  sense  and  sound  judgment  make  him  a  very  ad- 
mirable citizen ;  and  I  have  known  a  number  of  persons 
whom  even  an  academic  or  college  education  has  not 
made  his  equals.     Bear  in  mind  therefore  that  what  we 
call  education  is  not  the  equivalent  of  intelligence,  but 
only  a  very  helpful  means  to  it. 

115.  An  elementary  education,  also,  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary in  these  days  to  enable  a  man  to  serve  success- 
fully in  any  but  the  very  lowest  occupations,  and  its 
general  diffusion  is  therefore  a  means  to  increase  the 
prosperity  of  a  community,  and  to  prevent  pauperism  as 
well  as  crime. 

116.  Hence  the  necessity  of  schools,  and  the  justifi- 
cation of  free  or  public  schools.     Such  a  school,  main- 
tained and  inspected  by  the  state,  is  not  a  charitable  but 
a  political  institution,  in  the  broadest  sense.     It  is  to 
the  interest  of  all  the  citizens  that  every  child  in  the 
state  shall  have  so  much  education  as  shall  enable  it  to 


OF  EDUCATION.  67 

comprehend  our  political  institutions,  and  to  follow  in- 
telligently some  useful  industry.  That  much,  and  no 
more,  the  state,  in  the  common  interest,  ought  to  provide 
free  of  charge  for  all.  But  it  should  not  only  provide 
free  elementary  schools :  it  ought  also  to  require  that  all 
the  children  between  certain  ages  shall  be  sent  to  these 
public  free  schools. 

117.  A  compulsory  school  law  ought  to  include  the 
children  of  the  wealthy  as  well  as  those  of  the  poor; 
and  it  ought  to  compel  attendance  during  four  years — 
say  from  ten  to  fourteen — not  in  a  school,  but  in  the  pub- 
lic or  free  school  of  the  district.     Then  and  then  only 
the  free  schools  will  serve  one  of  their  most  important 
political  uses,  by  bringing  all  the  children  of  the  com- 
munity together,  in  a  way  which  will  make  citizens  of 
all  classes  know  each  other,  and  thus  prevent  that  alien- 
ation of  the  less  from  the  more  prosperous,  which  is  a 
grave  danger  to  free  government.     Moreover,  if  all  the 
children  of  a  neighborhood  must  go  to  a  free  school 
during  certain  years,  all  the  citizens  will  feel  the  ex- 
treme importance  of  making  that  school  effective,  both 
in  discipline  and  instruction. 

118.  Free  instruction  in  the  public  schools  should  be 
confined  to  the  elementary  branches.     A  child  which  at 
fourteen  or  fifteen  has  been  thoroughly  drilled  in  read- 
ing, writing,  arithmetic,  drawing,  and  the  simpler  parts 
of  physical  geography,  and  if  possible   musical   nota- 
tion,  is   fitted   either    to  begin    to   learn    a   trade,  or, 
if  its  parents  desire,  to  enter  a  higher  academy  for  fur- 
ther studies.     But  as  all  can  not  afford  to  send  their 
children  to  an  academy  or  college,  it  is  not  fair  to  bur- 
den all  for  the  support  of  these  higher  schools.     For 


68  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

the  more  extended  education,  those  who  desire  it  ought 
to  pay.  It  is  not  required  for  the  safety  or  welfare  of 
the  state  that  all  the  children  shall  be  trained  or  pre- 
pared for  professional  or  business  life.  The  common- 
school  system  has  in  many  states  become  cumbrous  and 
inefficient,  because  too  much  is  attempted  ;  and  boys  old 
enough  to  be  taught  useful  trades,  which  would  make 
them  independent  citizens,  are  kept  in  free  high-schools 
at  Latin  and  other  advanced  studies  until  they  are  nine- 
teen or  twenty,  and  when  they  enter  the  world  think  it 
a  hardship  or  a  disgrace  to  labor  with  their  hands,  and 
sink  into  dependent  positions  as  clerks  and  shopkeepers, 
half -starved  clergymen,  idle  lawyers,  or  office-seekers.  It 
is  an  injury  to  the  community  when  a  public -school 
system  is  made  to  foster  false  pride  and  vain  ambition, 
and  to  fit  youth  for  a  limited  range  of  callings,  which 
are  easily  overstocked;  and  it  is  a  grave  injury  to  the 
youth,  who  get  from  such  a  training  wrong  views  of 
life,  which  affect  their  whole  subsequent  lives.  A  certain 
degree  of  education  is  a  help  to  a  youth  in  acquiring 
a  useful  trade  or  calling ;  and  that  much  ought  to  be 
provided  free  of  cost  by  all. 

119.  It  has  been  found  very  difficult,  in  most  of  our 
states  which  have  attempted  it,  to  enforce  compulsory 
school  attendance  under  a  general  law ;  and  this  is  one 
of  the  cases,  of  which  I  shall  speak  to  you  farther  on, 
where  it  is  wiser  to  allow  the  people  of  a  county  or 
town  or  school  district  to  decide;  letting  each  minor 
locality  determine  for  itself  whether  or  not  it  will  com- 
pel attendance  at  school.  The  question  is  new  to  most 
of  our  people ;  and  a  compulsory  law  is  not  likely  to  be 
enforced  until  its  importance  is  more  generally  felt 


OF  EDUCATION.  69 

Again,  in  the  Southern  States,  prejudice  of  race  would 
make  a  law  or  regulation  compelling  the  attendance  of 
white  and  black  children  in  the  same  schools  hateful  to 
the  whites  and  painful  to  the  colored  children;  and 
such  a  law  would  therefore  be  highly  unwise,  and  is  not 
likely  to  be  adopted  by  any  of  those  states.  Yet  the 
white  people  of  the  Southern  States  would  act  most  un- 
wisely did  they  neglect  or  refuse  to  provide  free  schools 
for  the  colored  children;  and  they  would  do  well  to 
compel  the  attendance  of  all  children  in  free  schools — 
setting  apart,  if  they  prefer,  schools  for  the  colored  chil- 
dren. But  to  allow  any  child,  colored  or  white,  to  go 
without  a  common-school  education  is  a  costly  blunder; 
because  such  neglect  will  increase  crime  and  pauperism 
—both  of  which  cost  the  tax-payers  dear. 


70  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XVII. 

OF  TAXES. 

120.  The  tax  is  what  the  citizen  pays  out  of  his  earn- 
ings or  wealth,  or  both,  to  defray  the  necessary  cost  of 
protecting  his  life  and  property — to  enable  him  to  pro- 
duce, accumulate,  and  exchange  with  security  and  con- 
venience, without   devoting   a  part   of  his   time    and 
strength  to  the  labor  of  defending  himself  and  guard- 
ing his  accumulations  against  robbers. 

121.  This  general  defense  of  the  lives  and  property  of 
all  we  delegate  to  governments ;  and  it  results  that  when 
a  government  levies  taxes,  and  yet  fails  to  make  the  life 
and  property  of  every  individual  secure,  it  fails  of  its 
duty,  and  robs  the  tax-payer. 

122.  Free  government  is  the  best,  because  under  it 
the  people  are  able  constantly  to  hold  their  government 
responsible,  and  force  its  officers  to  fulfill  their  duties, 
and  to  conduct  affairs  economically ;  or,  if  they  fail,  to 
remove  them  and  put  more  capable  men  in  their  places. 

123.  We  delegate  to  the  government — federal,  state, 
city,  or  county — also  some  other  duties  besides  that  of 
protecting  us  in  life  and  property,  as  I  have  before  told 
you :  such  as  carrying  the  mails,  building  and  repairing 
roads,  the  survey  of  lands,  the  improvement  of  harbors, 
etc.     To  defray  the  cost  of  these  undertakings  we  must 
pay  also  a  general  contribution,  which  is  improperly 
called  a  tax.     It  is  in  fact  an  assessment,  to  each  person, 


OF  TAXES,  71 

for  an  improvement  in  the  benefits  of  which  he  shares ; 
and  for  this  assessment  he  therefore  gets  some  return  in 
conveniences.  Many  things  which  we  thus  delegate  to 
governments  or  public  authorities  might  be  better  or 
more  cheaply  done  by  associated  private  effort.  For  in- 
stance, toll-roads  made  and  kept  in  order  by  private  cor- 
porations are  almost  always  in  better  order  than  coun- 
ty or  other  public  roads ;  and  as  only  those  pay  toll 
who  use  them,  the  tax  or  assessment  thus  laid  is  more 
just  and  equal  than  one  laid  on  property  in  general, 
where  the  poor  are  very  apt  to  pay  more  than  their 
share. 

124.  But  all  taxes  imposed  to  defray  the  cost  of  pre- 
serving the  peace,  protecting  life  and  property,  dispens- 
ing justice,  and  punishing  criminals,  are  loss.     They  are 
so  much  taken  from  the  wealth  or  accumulated  savings 
of  a  nation  and  flung  into  the  fire.     If  all  men  were 
honest,  peaceable,  and  just,  there  would  be  no  need  of 
governments,  there  would  be  no  taxes,  and  there  would 
be,  therefore,  the  more  wealth,  and,  of  course,  the  more 
comfort  and  enjoyment  in  the  world  for  all.     Every 
thief,  burglar,  robber,  murderer,  every  avaricious,  grasp- 
ing, unjust  man,  in  the  community,  makes  it  the  poorer, 
and  takes  something  from  the  comfort  of  every  honest 
man. 

125.  Hence  the  importance  that  every  man  shall  be  a 
good  citizen,  just  to  his  fellows,  and  honest  in  all  his 
dealings ;  hence,  too,  the  importance  of  general  educa- 
tion, which  tends  towards  virtuous  conduct,  because  it 
better  enables  men  to  get  an  honest  living ;   of  just, 
equal,  and  stable  laws,  because  these  tend  to  make  men 
just  and  honest,  by  removing  from  them  temptations  to 


72  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

greed  and  dishonest  gains.    For  these  taxes  are  the  cost- 
ly penalties  of  vice,  ignorance,  and  selfishness. 

126.  Taxes  are  either  direct  or  indirect,  and  it  may 
be  said  that  direct  taxes  are  those  exacted  directly  from 
the  consumer,  and  indirect  those  paid  by  the  producer, 
middle-man,  or  exchanger,  who  adds  them  to  the  price 
lie  exacts  from  the  consumers,  who  thus  pay  indirectly. 

127.  Bear  in  mind  that  all  taxes  are  paid  by  the  con- 
sumer or  user,  in  the  end. 

128.  Direct  taxes  are  those  laid  on  real  estate  and 
on  personal  property  in  actual  use,  on  incomes,  and 
on  polls  or  heads.     Our  state  and  other  local  revenues 
are  all  raised  by  direct  taxation. 

129.  Indirect  taxes  are  duties  on  goods  imported,  or 
on  goods  manufactured  for  sale  at  home ;   in  the  last 
case  they  are  called  excises.    But  you  easily  see  that  the 
merchant  who  imports  goods,  or  the  manufacturer  at 
home,  does  not  submit  to  the  loss  of  the  amount  of  tax 
he  pays.     He  makes  it  in  either  case  a  charge  upon  his 
goods,  and  adds  it  to  their  price.     Not  only  that,  but  as 
he  must  take  the  risk  of  loss  by  fire  or  other  accident, 
or  by  falling  prices  or  a  lack  of  market  after  the  duty 
or  excise  is  paid,  he  adds  a  percentage  to  the  price  to 
cover  these  risks;  for  he  knows  that  the  government 
will  not  return  him  the  taxes  he  has  paid,  no  matter  if 
he  should  entirely  lose  his  goods  the  day  after  he  had 
paid  the  tax  or  duty  upon  them. 

130.  Hence  indirect  taxes  are  less  economical  than 
direct  taxes ;  they  inflict  more  loss  upon  the  consumer 
compared  with  the  amount  of  revenue  raised.     But  be- 
cause indirect  taxes  are  paid  by  the  consumer  with  other 
payments,  in  small  and  often  insignificant  amounts  at  a 


OF   TAXES.  73 

time,  and  without  the  intervention  of  that  universally 
hated  person  the  tax-gatherer,  this  mode  of  raising  rev- 
enue has  always  been  a  favorite  with  the  people ;  and 
because  an  indirect  tax  is  thus  collected  with  less  fric- 
tion, and  can  be  increased  secretly,  as  it  were,  and  with- 
out its  effect  being  so  immediately  and  plainly  felt  by 
each  individual  tax-payer,  it  has  always  been  a  favorite 
with  governments. 

131.  The  revenues  of  the  Federal  Government  arc 
almost  entirely  derived  from  indirect  taxes. 

132.  As  these  are  difficult  of  adjustment  and  compli- 
cated, their  arrangement  almost  always  gives  opportuni- 
ty to  selfish  and  scheming  persons  to  impose  upon  Con- 
gress, and  get  it  to  favor  their  pursuits  either  by  exemp- 
tion where  a  tax  should  be  laid,  or  by  laying  a  tax  where 
the  general  interest   requires   none;  or  finally,  by  in- 
ducing Congress  to  change  the  duty  or  tax,  either  raising 
or  lowering  it,  by  which  change  manufacturers  or  im- 
porters or  speculators  may  make  extraordinary  gains. 
Thus  a  tax  system,  whose  only  proper  end  is  to  raise  a 
certain  amount  of  revenue  for  the  government,  is  often 
misapplied  to  providing  a  bounty  for  certain  favored 
pursuits,  or  enabling  influential  speculators  to  make  un- 
just gains  at  the  cost  of  the  mass  of  the  people. 

133.  In  spite  of  these  abuses,  however,  it  is  probable 
that  indirect  taxation  will  remain  a  favorite  means  of 
raising  revenue  in  all  countries  for  a  long  time  to  come ; 
and  the  citizens  have  no  remedy  against  its  abuse,  ex- 
cept to  insist  upon  the  sound  and  indisputable  principle 
that  the  sole  proper  purpose  of  taxation  is  to  raise  the 
revenue  required  by  the  government ;  and  to  hold  legis- 
lators to  a  strict  account  in  this  matter. 

D 


74  POLITICS   FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 


XVIII. 

OF  PROPERTY. 

134.  Whatever  you  earn  or  produce  or  create  by  your 
labor  or  ingenuity  or  forethought,  or  all  combined,  is 
your  property  ;  it  belongs  to  you,  because  you  have  tak- 
en the  trouble  to  produce  it;   and  you  have  the  right 
to  do  with  it  what  you  will.     You  may,  for  instance, 
consume  or  waste  it  all. 

135.  If  you  produce  more  than  you  consume,  what 
remains  over  is  still  your  own,  your  property,  to  which 
you  have  the    exclusive   right   against   other  persons. 
This  surplus  which  remains  .over  in  your  hands  is  called 
capital.     Thus  if  you  have  saved  enough  from  your 
product  to  buy  yourself  a  spade,  or  a  chest  of  tools,  or  a 
plow   and   span  of  horses,  these  articles  are  properly 
capital,  and  their  possession  constitutes  you  to  that  de- 
gree a  capitalist.     Ignorant  persons  misuse  this  word, 
and  imagine  a  capitalist  to  be  one  who  has  accumu- 
lated some   vague  but  large   amount  of  property.      I 
want  you  to  understand  that  this  is  a  foolish  limitation 
of  the  meaning  of  this  word. 

136.  Capital  might  be  called  the  net  profit  of  labor, 
if  it  were  not  that,  in  order  to  its  existence,  another 
element  than  labor  is  required,  namely,  self-denial  or 
economy.     For  it  is  possible   for   a   man  to   destroy, 
by   consumption    or  waste,  or  both,  all  that  he   earns 


OF   PROPERTY.  75 

or  produces ;  and  a  considerable  part  of  mankind  do 
actually  live  in  this  way — from  hand  to  mouth,  as  we 
say. 

137.  Industry  and  economy  united  are  therefore  re- 
quired, as  you  see,  to  accumulate  that  surplus  which  we 
call  capital ;  and  as  both  these  are  voluntary  and  irk- 
some exercises :  as  you  deny  yourself  both  when  you 
engage  in  productive  labor  and  when  you  refrain  from 
consuming  or  wasting  what  you  have  produced^  it  fol- 
lows that  no  other  person  can  have  so  good  a  claim  on 
your  surplus  as  yourself. 

138.  In  a  rude  or  savage  society,  a  man  who  wished 
to  accumulate  property  had  not  only  to  labor  to  create 
it,  and  to  exercise  self-denial  to  save  it,  but  he  had  to 
devote  a  considerable  part  of  his  time  and  strength  to 
defending  his  possessions   as   well  as  his  life   against 
others.     To  save  this  last  necessity,  society  and  govern- 
ments were  organized,  their  purpose  being  to  make  life 
and  property  secure  against  attack  ;  and  by  a  general 
co-operation  and  contribution  of  efforts  or  of  means  to 
overawe  and  punish  depredators.      Armies,  navies,  the 
police,  the  courts,  and  the  body  of  laws  in  obedience  to 
which  all  these  act  in  a  free  state,  are  simply  means 
for  the  protection  of  life  and  property  at  a  cheaper 
rate  and  in  a  more  effective  manner  than  could  be  done 
by  individual  efforts ;  and  every  nation  is  therefore,  in 
this   respect,  only  a  great   co-operative   association,  in 
which  each  member  contributes  somewhat  from  his  ac- 
cumulations or  earnings  to  pay  the  charges  for  preserv- 
ing the  rest.     It  is  only  by  thus  delegating  the  power  of 
protection  to  a  few  members  of  society  that  the  remain- 
der can  get  time  to  produce  sufficient  for  consumption 


76  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

and  a  surplus — which  surplus  \\e  call  wealth  or  capital. 
And  it  is  only  where  this  protection  is  effective  that 
men  are  encouraged  to  the  labor  and  self-denial  neces- 
sary to  create  property  or  wealth. 

139.  I  want  you  to  fix  firmly  in  your  mind  that  every 
dollar's  worth  of  property  or  wealth  in  the  world  is  a 
dollar's  worth  of  proof  that  somebody  at  some  time  did 
not  only  labor  to  produce  it,  but  denied  himself  some 
pleasure  or  comfort  in  order  to  save  it.     For  though 
God  gave  us  the  soil,  the  seasons,  rain,  and  many  other 
means  of  production — just  as  he  gave  us  our  hands, 
strength,  and  brain — these  are  in  themselves  not  wealth. 
The  gold  lay  in  California  for  centuries,  and  was  useless 
and  worthless  until  man's  labor  dug  it  out ;  and  in  like 
manner  every  natural  product  is  worthless  until  the  la- 
bor of  man  is  applied  to  it.     For  instance,  the  plains  of 
California  might  be  covered  with  wheat ;  but,  unless  it 
was  harvested,  it  would  be   worthless.     You  may  say 
that  cattle  would  eat  it ;  but  unless  the  cattle  were  aft- 
erwards caught  and  slain,  and  their  hides  and  meat  pre- 
served by  the  labor  of  Imen,  they  would  be  worthless ; 
and  if,  being  caught,  the^  were  wastefully  shot  and  left 
to  rot,  no  surplus  or  -capital  would  be  saved. 

140.  Remember,  too,  that  what  we  call  the  wealth  of 
a  nation  is  only  the  aggregate  wealth  of  its  members, 
and  represents  the  results  of  their  industry  and  self-de- 
nial.    To  increase  this  wealth,  therefore,  a  people  must 
both  labor  and  save ;  and  to  be  encouraged  in  these  irk- 
some duties,  they  must  feel  themselves  secure  in  the 
enjoyment  of  what  they  produce  and  accumulate.     Ev- 
ery thing,  therefore,  which  makes  property  less  secure, 
which  exposes  it  not  merely  to  open  attack  by  predatory 


OF  PROPERTY.  77 

men,  but  to  loss  by  bad  laws,  or  by  inefficient  or  corrupt 
rulers,  weakens  the  spirit  of  accumulation. 

141.  But  to  maintain  civilization,  great  accumulated 
wealth  and  an  active  desire  by  the  people  to  accumulate 
more  are  absolutely  necessary.     If  you  will  try  to  im- 
agine a  nation  whose  members  have  accumulated  no 
property,  you  will  see  that  to  them  civilization  is  impos- 
sible, even  if  they  desired  it.     For  such  a  people  would 
have  neither  houses,  cattle,  nor  tools — all  of  which  are 
accumulated  wealth  or  capital,  to  possess  which  men 
must  previously  have  labored  and  denied  themselves. 
But  you  must  see  that  such  a  civilization  as  ours  re- 
quires much  more  than  houses,  cattle,  and  tools.     "We 
have   schools,  shops,  factories,  roads,  railroads,  steam- 
boats, telegraphs,  and  a  great  multitude  of  other  things, 
to  possess  any  one  of  which  we  must  have,  previous 
to  their  construction,  accumulated  property  or  wealth 
enough  by  our  labor  and  self-denial  to  pay  their  cost. 
A  nation  whose  members  had  accumulated  no  property, 
and  who  consequently  lived  from  hand  to  mouth,  could 
not  afford  to  build  a  railroad  or  a  factory  or  a  school- 
house  ;  each  person  would  be  busy  providing  food  for 
himself;   and  no  laboring  force  could  be  diverted  to 
these  other  objects,  because  no  means  or  capital  would 
be  at  hand  to  support  such  a  force  while  it  was  laying  a 
stone  wall  or  rolling  a  rail,  which  at  the  close  of  the 
day  they  could  neither  eat  nor  clothe  themselves  with. 

142.  Nor,  if  accumulation  should  at  any  time  cease, 
could  civilization  continue ;  because  in  such  a  case  the 
weal tli   already  accumulated   would   quickly  be  spent, 
and  the   nation   would  be  left  without  the   means  to 
maintain   its   instruments   of   civilization.      If,  for   in- 


78  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

stance,  the  Californians  had  unanimously  determined 
to  dig  out  all  the  gold  in  their  mountains,  and  confine 
themselves  rigidly  to  that  industry  alone,  or  if  Califor- 
nia had  been  a  sterile  desert,  yielding  only  gold,  when 
the  mines  gave  out  they  would  have  had  to  abandon 
the  country,  and  leave  it  once  more  to  become  a  desert. 
As  production  and  accumulation  ceased,  civilization 
would  have  fled  the  state.  But  as  the  land  is  fertile  and 
the  settlers  turned  also  to  agriculture,  they  used  natural 
resources  which,  unlike  gold  mines,  never  fail ;  and  the 
accumulation  of  wealth  went  on  when  gold  ceased  to  be 
abundant. 


OF  MONEY.  79 


XIX. 

OF  MONEY. 

143.  But  to  encourage  production  and  facilitate  ac- 
cumulation, something  besides  security  of  property  is 
required.     Each  man  can  not  produce  all  the  articles  he 
needs  for  comfort  and  enjoyment,  because  many  things 
which  he  desires  can  not  be  produced  in  the  climate  or 
on  the  soil  where  he  lives.     Moreover,  he  can  work  to 
much  greater  advantage,  produce  more  easily,  and  accu- 
mulate more  rapidly,  if  he  confines  himself  to  one  or  a 
few  articles  of  production.     If  you  are  a  carpenter  and 
I  a  shoemaker,  it  would  plainly  be  an  advantage  to  both 
of  us,  I  wanting  a  house,  and  you  shoes  for  your  family, 
if  we  agreed  that  you  would  build  me  the  house,  and  I 
should  make  you  a  certain  number  of  shoes.     This  kind 
of  exchange  is  called  barter. 

144.  Imagine  now  a  tribe  or  nation  to  whom  barter 
is  unknown,  but  who  have  learned  to  accumulate  prop- 
erty.    Each  family  aims  to  provide  all  it  needs  by  its 
own  labor;  and  whatever  its  surplus  may  be  it  stores 
away.     You  will  see  the  monstrous  inconvenience  of 
such  a  condition,  because  the  surplus  may  be  perisha- 
ble.    But,  what  is  far  more  serious,  such  a  surplus 
could  have  no  value,'  for  unless  it  could  be  sold,  which 
means  exchanged  for  some  other  articles  giving  comfort 
or  enjoyment,  it  would  simply  accumulate,  and  in  time 


80  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

rot.     That  is  to  say,  unless  you  can  exchange  your  sur- 
plus for  something  else,  it  is  absolutely  worthless. 

145.  Fix  clearly  in  your  mind,  therefore,  that  to  es- 
tablish industry  and  self-denial,  which  means  to  make 
civilization  possible,  it  is  necessary,  first,  that  property 
shall  be  secure ;  and,  second,  that  the  possessors  of  prop- 
erty shall  be  able  freely  to  exchange  it  for  other  articles 
which  they  desire;  and  that  if  you  take  away  the  possi- 
bility of  exchange,  production  will  cease. 

146.  If  you  had  hides  and  I  coffee,  you  might,  if  you 
could  find  me,  give  me  hides  for  my  coffee;  and  thus 
both  of  us  would  be  benefited  and  pleased.    We  should, 
however,  first  be  at  the  trouble  of  finding  each  other,  and 
would  probably  waste  much  time  in  this  pursuit,  which 
would  be  so  much  taken  from  the  production  of  other 
hides  and  coffee.     If  now  a  third  person  should  appear, 
ready  to  carry  your  hides  to  me,  and  bring  back  to  you 
my  coffee,  plainly  that  would  be  an  advantage  to  both 
of  us,  who  could  go  on  in  the  pursuits  in  which  we  had 
most  skill,  and  in  which  therefore  we  could  produce  the 
most. 

147.  This  third  person  is  called  a  merchant,  and  his 
business  is  commerce.     For  his  trouble  we  should  both 
be  ready  to  pay  him  a  share  of  our  products,  because  by 
using  his  labor  and  skill  we  are  enabled  to  produce  a 
greater  quantity. 

148.  But  how  am  I  to  be  sure  that  the  merchant  to 
whom  I  intrust  my  coffee  is  honest,  and  that  he  will 
really  bring  me  back  hides  ?     He  may  be  a  rogue.     To 
smooth  the  way  and  make  us  both  secure,  we  have  an 
ingenious  contrivance  called  MONEY,  the  precise  nature 
of  which  it  is  very  important  that  you  should  understand. 


OF  MONEY.  81 

149.  If  the  merchant  who  offers  to  exchange  for  us 
our  hides  and  coffee  can  leave  with  us,  as  a  pledge  of 
his  honesty,  something  which  either  of  us  will  accept  of 
the  other  as  really  valuable,  and  equally  valuable  with 
onr  products,  we  shall  of  course  be  satisfied.     For  if  the 
merchant  should  disappear  with  your  hides,  you  would 
still  have  that  with  which  you  could  buy  my  coffee. 

150.  Take  another  example :  If  you  are  a  shoemaker, 
it  is  necessary  for  you  to  receive  for  your  shoes  either 
the  actual  articles  you  need  to  consume,  or  something 
which  will  buy  these.     You  may  be  willing  to  accept 
for  shoes  an  order  on  the  farmer  for  oats  and  butter, 
another  on  the  miller  for  flour,  another  on  the  tailor  for 
clothing,  another  on  the  hatter  for  hats.    But  your  great 
object  has  been  to  have  at  the  end  of  all  these  transac- 
tions a  number  of  shoes  for  which  you  need  no  article 
which  is  at  once  to  be  consumed  by  you  or  your  family. 
These  surplus  shoes,  the  result  of  labor  and  self-denial, 
are  your  capital.     What  will  you  take  for  them  ?     Not 
an  order  for  more  butter,  oats,  flour,  clothes,  hats — for 
your  shoes  will  keep  as  well  or  better  than  any  of  these 
articles.     Yet  they  are  cumbrous;  rats  may  eat  them; 
a  damp  storage-place  may  spoil  them ;  fire  may  destroy 
them  ;  in  course  of  time  they  would  rot ;  and  a  new 
fashion  in  shoes  may  meantime  make  them  unsaleable. 
If  you  could  get  for  your  surplus  slices  something  which 
had  real  and  universal  value,  and  which  yet  should  not 
be  cumbrous  or  easily  destroyed,  or  subject  to  loss  by 
change  of  fashion,  you  would  evidently  be  benefited. 

151.  This  something  is  gold  and  silver,  two  metals 
whose  peculiarity  is  that  their  rarity  and  wide  use  for 
ornamental  purposes  gives  them  a  fixed  value  all  over 

D2 


82  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

the  civilized  world,  and  which  are  not  cumbrous  nor 
easily  destroyed.  A  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  shoes  re- 
quire a  storehouse,  with  guards  against  dampness,  fire, 
and  rats.  A  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  gold  or  silver 
you  can  lay  away  on  a  shelf,  or,  if  necessary,  carry  in 
a  bag. 

152.  Still,  if  you  were  going  to  exchange  your  shoes 
for  gold  or  silver,  you  would  have  to  assay  it,  to  ascer- 
tain its  purity,  and  to  weigh  it,  that  you  should  be  sure 
of  getting  the  proper  quantity  and  purity.     To  save  you 
and  all  of  us  these  time -wasting  labors,  governments 
undertake  the  trouble  of  coining.     This  means  that  the 
government,  at  a  mint,  assays  the  gold  and  silver,  pu- 
rifies them,  and  by  a  mark  on  each  coin  denotes  its  fine- 
ness and  weight.     That  is  to  say,  it  certifies  that  a  sil- 
ver dollar,  or  a  gold  five-dollar  piece,  really  and  truly 
contains  a  dollars  worth  of  silver  or  five  dollar^  worth 
of  gold. 

153.  It  follows  that  a  gold  or  silver  dollar  is  an  object 
having  a  real  value.     If  you  choose  to  melt  it,  you  can 
sell  the  gold  or  silver  in  it  for  a  dollar.     If  you  give  it 
in  exchange  for  a  dinner,  you  do  not  swindle  the  tavern- 
keeper. 

154.  The  government,  having  for  the  general  con- 
venience and  economy  coined  the  money  or  certified  its 
value,  may  rightly,  for  the  same  end,  punish  false  coin- 
ers or  counterfeiters ;  and  it  may  declare  that  its  coinage 
shall  be  accepted  by  all  the  citizens  in  their  transactions 
at  the  weight  and  purity  which  it  has  certified — which 
is  called  making  it  a  "legal  tender."     This  is  in  order 
that  no  man  shall  put  his  neighbor  to  trouble,  in  mak- 
ing payments,  by  disputing  these  qualities  of  the  coin. 


OF   MONET.  83 

155.  But  it  is  evident  that  this  does  not  give  the  gov- 
ernment a  right  to  debase  the  coinage,  by  certifying  that 
to  be  a  dollar  which  contains  less  than  a  dollar's  worth 
of  gold  or  silver,  for  this  would  be  to  cheat  the  people ; 
still  less  can  it  affix  arbitrary  denominations  to  things, 
as  pieces  of  birch-bark,  or  of  paper,  and  command  them 
to  be  accepted  as  money,  or  make  them  a  legal  tender 
as  we  say,  for  tin's  would  be  to  authorize  one  citizen  to 
swindle  another.    All  that  the  government  does  in  coin- 
ing is  for  the  general  convenience  to  declare  the  purity 
and  certify  the  actual  weight  of  apiece  of  metal. 

156.  Since  the  great  gold  discoveries  in  California 
and  Australia,  gold  has  been  more  exclusively  used  for 
money  than  formerly ;  and  in  several  countries,  our  own 
among  the  number,  silver  coins  have  been  struck  worth 
a  trifle  less  than  their  face  or  denomination,  the  object 
being  to  prevent  waste  from   melting  and  recoining. 
Such  coins  are  called  "tokens,"  and  are  used  only  for 
convenience  as  "  small  change." 


84:  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XX. 

OF  LABOR  AND   CAPITAL. 

157.  The  spirit  of  accumulation — of  industry  and  self- 
denial — being  once  aroused  in  a  people,  and  encouraged 
by  their  security  in  the  enjoyment  of  property,  and  fa- 
cility in  exchanging  their  surplus  products,  which  gives 
them  value,  it  is  clear,  considering  the  difference  in  men 
— some  being  weak  of  body,  less  persistent,  less  inge- 
nious, or  less  self-denying  than  others — that  inevitably 
some  will  accumulate  less  property  than  others;  and 
that  many  will,  in  fact,  accumulate  nothing,  but  consume 
all  they  produce,  and  as  fast  as  they  produce  it. 

158.  But  in  many  emergencies  of  a  man's  life  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  he  shall  have  some  surplus  to 
start  with.     Take  as  an  instance  the  gold-hunters  in  the 
early  days  of  California.     A  multitude  of  men  rushed 
to  the  rich  placer  diggings,  hopeful  of  speedy  fortune ; 
but  a  large  part  of  them  presently  discovered  that  they 
must  eat  and  drink,  and  be  clothed  and  sheltered,  while 
they  looked  for  and  dug  out  gold  ;  and  not  having  a  sur- 
plus sufficient  to  provide  themselves  with  food,  clothing, 
and  shelter  in  this  emergency,  what  should  they  do? 
Die?    No;  a  man  who  found  himself  in  that  situation 
sought  out  another  who  had  a  surplus,  and  said  to  him, 
Give  me  food,  clothing,  and  shelter,  or  the  means  of  get- 
ting these,  and  I  will  give  you  my  strength  and  skill, 
until  I  have  saved  by  self-denial  a  surplus  sufficient  to 


OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL.  85 

enable  me  to  prospect  and  dig  on  my  own  account. 
That  is  to  say,  he  became  a  laborer  for  hire,  or  wages. 

159.  Suppose  now  he  could  have  found  no  one  thus 
ready  to  hire  him  and  pay  him  wages  ?     Suppose  every 
man  who  had  a  surplus  (this  surplus  being  capital)  had 
laid  it  away  in  a  strong  box,  and  refused  to  use  it  in 
paying  wages  for  the  labor  of  the  man  without  surplus  ? 
Do  you  not  see  that  the  chief  sufferer  in  this  case — the 
only  immediate  sufferer  indeed  —  would  be  the  man 
without  surplus  or  capital,  and  in  need  of  food  and  other 
necessaries  of  life,  which  he  could  get  only  by  wages — 
or  theft? 

160.  But  here  you  have  the  whole  question  of  capital 
and  labor ;  and  if  any  body  tells  you  that  there  is  a  nec- 
essary and  natural  antagonism  between  capital  and  la- 
bor, you  may  safely  set  him  down  as  an  ignoramus. 

161.  Capital  is  simply  accumulated  savings.    He  who 
has  it  becomes  the  enemy  of  labor  only  when  he  hides 
his  capital  in  an  old  stocking  or  a  fire-place,  or  in  the 
ground :  when  he  refuses  to  make  use  of  it.     When  he 
does  this  we  call  him  a  miser,  and  despise  and  dislike 
him,  as  is  but  just,  for  then  only  he  sets  up  his  selfish 
interest  against  his  fellow-men.  i 

162.  But  while  property,  surplus,  or  capital  is  used  by 
its  possessors,  it  is  a  benefit  to  the  whole  mass  of  those 
who  have  no  capital,  and  to  whose  advantage  it  is,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  needy  miner,  to  be  able  to  receive  wages 
for  their  labor.     The  more  numerous  the  laboring  or 
non-capitalist  class  is,  the  more  important  to  them,  you 
must  see,  is  a  large  accumulation  of  capital,  for  they  de- 
pend on  that  to  enable  them  to    earn  wages,  and  in 
their  turn,  if  they  will  exercise  self-denial,  to  save  a 


86  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

surplus ;  and  no  one  is  so  seriously  injured  as  the  laborer 
for  wages,  by  any  event — be  it  a  war,  an  unjust  law,  or 
a  corrupt  government — which  lessens  the  safety  of  ac- 
cumulations, alarms  their  owners,  and  makes  them  re- 
luctant to  venture  on  new  enterprises. 

163.  It  is  therefore  fortunate  for  the  less  prosperous 
of  mankind  that  the  spirit  of  accumulation  leads  those 
who  own  property  to  seek  ways  in  which  to  use  this  very 
property  or  capital  in  adding  to  their  stores ;  for  thus 
the  efforts  of  the  poor,  the  non-capitalists ',  are  lightened, 
and  made  'more  productive  for  themselves  than  they 
otherwise  could  be. 

164.  Capital  is  simply  accumulated  savings.     In  the 
United  States  any  laborer  may  hope  to  become  a  capi- 
talist, if  he  has  health  and  intelligence,  by  the  exercise 
of  industry  and  economy ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  common- 
est, as  well  as,  to  a  thoughtful  man,  one  of  the  most  sat- 
isfactory experiences,  to  see  a  young  man,  after  laboring 
faithfully  for  hire  for  a  time,  presently  begin  on  his  own 
account,  and  by  and  by  become,  in  his  turn,  the  em- 
ployer of  other  men's  labor  as  well  as  his  own. 

165.  While  it  will  probably,  for  a  long  time  to  come, 
be  necessary  as  well  as  advantageous  to  the  mass  of 
men  to  labor  for  wages,  that  country  is  the  most  for- 
tunate in  which  it  is  the  easiest  for  an  industrious  and 
self-denying  citizen  to  lift  himself  from  the  condition  of 
a  hired  man  to  that  of  independence,  however  modest. 
It  is  extremely  important  that  neither  laws  nor  customs 
shall  interfere  with  this  change,  but  that  all  doors  shall 
be  opened  for  it.     For  though  not  one  in  a  thousand  of 
the  laborers  for  wages  may  choose  thus  to  elevate  him- 
self to  independence,  it  adds  materially  to  the  content- 


OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL.  87 

ment  and  happiness  of  all  to  believe  that  if  they  chose 
to  do  so  they  might;  and  that  efforts  not  beyond  their 
powers  would  always  open  the  way  to  them. 

166.  As  the  accumulated  wealth  or  savings  in  any 
country  is  thus  a  source  of  subsistence  and  a  means  of 
advancement,  not  merely  to  the  individual  owners  of  this 
wealth,  capital,  or  property,  but  to  the  whole  popula- 
tion, and  especially  to  that  part  of  it  which  labors  for 
wages,  and  who  could  not  receive  wages  if  accumulated 
capital  did  not  exist,  or  if  it  were  destroyed,  so  it  may 
be  said  without  exaggeration  that  no  part  of  the  com- 
munity has  so  vital  an  interest  in  the  abundance^  free- 
dom, and  security  of  capital  as  those  who  labor  for 
wages.  For  though  the  individual  capitalist  may  be  se- 
riously inconvenienced  by  events  which  lessen  or  make 
insecure  his  accumulations,  he  has  still  the  resources  of 
removing  his  capital,  especially  if  it  consists  of  money, 
to  a  more  secure  place,  of  withdrawing  it,  at  whatever 
loss,  from  enterprises  which  afford  employment  by  giv- 
ing the  means  out  of  which  to  pay  wages,  or,  in  the  final 
resort,  of  living  upon  it  without  seeking  any  return  for 
its  use.  In  any  of  these  cases  the  laborers  for  hire  suffer 
first  and  most  severely.  This  you  may  see  in  every  great 
panic  and  business  crisis  in  our  country,  when  those  who 
possess  a  surplus  or  capital  at  once  begin  to  hoard  it,  and 
to  withdraw  it  from  enterprises ;  and  it  is  seen  upon  a 
large  scale  in  such  a  country  as  Mexico,  where  long-con- 
tinued civil  disorders  have  caused  both  the  hoarding  and 
removal  of  capital,  and  where,  consequently,  though  the 
wealthy  live  well  enough,  and  even  increase  their  capi- 
tal, the  mass  of  the  people  remain  in  indigence,  and  find 
it  extremely  difficult  to  achieve  more  than  a  hand-to- 


88  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

month  existence,  and  this  though  their  country  has  great 
natural  wealth  and  a  fine  climate. 

167.  Consequently  those  who  assert  that  capital  is  the 
enemy  of  labor,  or  who  favor  unjust  laws,  arbitrary  inter- 
ference with  the  course  of  industry  or  the  uses  of  capital, 
or  a  corrupt  and  wasteful  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment— all  which  are  attacks  upon  capital  and  its  owners 
— are  the  worst  enemies  of  the  laborers  for  wages,  and 
injure  these  precisely  in  the  degree  in  which  the  unjust 
law  or  wasteful  administration  discourages  or  hinders  the 
accumulation  of  capital. 

168.  Hence  trades  -  unions  and  international  societies, 
when  they  teach  that  capital  is  the  foe  of  labor,  and  that 
the  laborer  for  wages  ought  or  must  always  remain  a 
hireling ;  when,  in  carrying  these  doctrines  into  practice, 
they  endeavor  to  limit  the  number  of  hours  a  laborer 
shall  work,  and  the  number  of  persons  who  shall  learn  a 
trade ;  or  when  they  support  usury  laws,  an  irredeema- 
ble paper  currency,  and  extravagant  appropriations  by 
the  government  for  public  works — really  strike  a  blow 
at  the  comfort  and  prosperity  of  the  class  which  labors 
for  wages. 

169.  In  several  following  subdivisions  I  shall  try  to 
make  plain  to  you  how  interference  with  the  free  use, 
circulation,  and  increase  of  capital  is,  aside  from  its  in- 
justice, specially  injurious  to  the  non- capitalist  class- 
to  those  who  labor  for  wages — and  to  whose  advantage 

O  O 

it  is  to  be  able  to  accumulate  a  surplus,  and  to  become, 
by  their  honest  labor,  capitalists  themselves.  For  I  re- 
mind you  again  that  a  "capitalist"  is  not  necessarily  a 
man  of  great  wealth.  The  carpenter  who  owns  his  chest 
of  tools  is  to  that  extent  a  capitalist :  he  has  a  surplus, 


OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL.  $$ 

which  he  can  sell  or  rent  out.  The  Liverpool  match- 
boy,  who  called  himself  a  "  timber-merchant  on  a  small 
scale,"  was  not  so  far  wrong:  he  had  goods  to  sell ;  and 
if  he  owned  the  matches,  he  was  also  a  capitalist — to 
that  extent 


90  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XXL 

OF  USURY  LAWS. 

170.  If  you  have  any  kind  of  surplus  property  or 
capital,  you  may  hide  it,  like  a  miser ;  or  you  may  use 
it  yourself  in  enterprises  where  it  enables  you  to  em- 
ploy the  labor  of  others,  for  which  you   pay   them 
wages ;  or  you  may  let  some  one  else  use  it. 

171.  If  you  part  with  your  property  permanently,  or 
sell  it,  you  expect  to  get  for  it  an  equivalent,  in  money 
or  some  other  kind  of  property.     If  you  part  with  it 
temporarily,  or  lend  it  to  another,  you  reasonably  de- 
mand an  equivalent  to  repay  you  for  the  temporary 
deprivation  of  its  use  or  enjoyment.     Thus,  if  you  lend 
or  let  your  house  or  farm  or  money,  you  require  and 
receive  rent — the  rent  of  money  being  called  interest. 

172.  The  rent  which  you  would  be  willing  to  pay  for 
a  two-story  frame  house  depends  on  its  situation,  the 
purpose  for  which  you  can  use  it,  and  the  number  of 
persons  who  would  like  to  occupy  it.     For  if  it  were 
even  very  valuable,  but  to  you  only,  and  valueless  to 
every  one  else,  it  is  clear  that  I,  the  owner,  could  not 
demand  a  high  rental,  because  you  would  refuse  to  give 
it.     Nor  would  it  be  unjust  in  you  to  offer  only  a  low 
rental,  because,  in  such  a  case,  if  the  house  is  valuable 
to  you  alone,  that  proves  that  it  is  your  skill,  your  in- 
dustry, your  labor  and  talent,  or  your  self-denial,  and 


OF   USURY  LAWS.  91 

not  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  house,  which  are  under 
the  circumstances  to  give  it  value. 

173.  Not  only  does  the  rental  value  of  the  house  de- 
pend on  its  situation,  but  it  is  likely  to  vary  from  year  to 
year,  as  similar  houses  are  more  or  less  abundant,  or  as 
there  are  more  or  fewer  purposes  for  which  they  can  be 
used. 

174.  If,  now,  Congress  or  the  state  Legislature  should 
enact  a  law  prescribing  that  all  two-story  frame  houses 
throughout  the  state  or  the  United  States  should  be 
rented  for  no  more  than  fifty  dollars  per  annum,  this 
would  evidently  be  a  ridiculous,  and  moreover  an  unjust 
regulation,  for  such  a  house  may  be  five  times  as  desira- 
ble in  one  situation  as  in  another — that  is  to  say,  five 
times  as  valuable  to  you,  who  want  to  hire  its  use  of  me. 

175.  But  take  notice  that  while  such  a  law  might 
temporarily  and  in  the  first  instance  benefit  a  part  of 
the  poorer  people — for  whose  advantage  demagogues 
would  cry  out  for  its  adoption — it  would  presently  and 
permanently  injure  them;  for,  first,  it  would  at  once 
put  a  stop  to  the  building  of  such  houses,  whereby  me- 
chanics would  be  thrown  out  of  employment;  second, 
it  would  incommode  the  poorer  people,  by  lessening  the 
number  of  houses  in  proportion  to  occupants,  and  con- 
fining them  therefore  to  narrower  quarters ;  and,  third, 
capital,  thus  menaced  and  oppressed,  would  take  alarm, 
and  be  rapidly  removed  to  countries  where  the  people 
were  not  silly  enough,  and  demagogues  not  powerful 
enough,  to   enforce   such   arbitrary   regulations.     And 
while  not  merely  the  capital  which  was  originally  in- 
tended to  be  invested  in  two-story  frame  houses,  but 
much  other  capital  would  thus  disappear,  and  all  enter- 


92  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

prises  supporting  labor  would  be  checked,  the  owners  of 
two-story  frame  houses,  who  would  actually  lose,  would 
in  their  turn  be  so  much  less  able  to  employ  labor. 
Thus,  for  the  temporary  gain  of  a  small  part  of  the 
people — the  occupiers  of  two-story  frame  houses  already 
built — the  whole  laboring  population,  the  mass  of  the 
people,  would  be  seriously  injured. 

176.  It  is  therefore  clearly  to  the  general  advantage 
that  the  house-owner  shall  be  allowed  to  make  such  ar- 
rangements with  his  tenants  as  to  rent  as  shall  be  mutu- 
ally agreeable  to  them. 

177.  But  a  two-story  frame  house  is  the  equivalent  of 
money ;  money  was  expended  to  build  it ;  and  what  is 
true  of  the  house  is  equally  true  of  the  money.     If 
you  borrow  my  house,  it  is  to  use  it,  and  I  exact  pay- 
ment for  this  use,  and  graduate  payment  according  to 
the  demand  for  it,  just  as  you  agree  to  pay  according 
to  its  value  to  you.     If  you  borrow  of  me  a  thousand 
dollars,  it  is  equally  to  use  it :  you  may  want  to  build 
with  this  sum  a  two-story  frame  house.     Clearly  the 
law  ought  not  to  interfere  either  to  compel  you  to  pay 
more  or  me  to  receive  less  than  we  can  mutually  agree 
shall  be  a  fair  rental  or  interest  for  the  money. 

178.  Obviously  no  Legislature   can   tell  beforehand 
what  I  ought  to  pay  or  you  to  receive  as  rent  for  your 
money  any  more  than  for  your  house,  because  it  can 
not  take  into  account  all  the  various  and  varying  cir- 
cumstances of  each  case.    It  is  just  as  ridiculous,  unjust, 
and  injurious  to  the  mass  of  the  people  to  prohibit  men 
from  paying  more  than  seven  per  cent,  for  money  as  to 
declare  that  they  shall  pay  no  more  than  fifty  dollars  a 
year  rent  for  a  two-story  frame  house. 


OF   USURY  LA  WS.  93 

179.  For  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  capital,  arbi- 
trarily interfered  with,  seeks  other  uses,  and  flies  away 
to  freer  regions,  in  each  case  to  the  injury  of  the  non- 
capitalist  class,  because  the  wages  fund  is  lessened  if 
capital  is  diminished. 

180.  In  practical  effect,  as  money  is  a  form  of  cap- 
ital easily  concealed,  a  usury  law  works  in  this  way : 
Some  capital  is  sent  away  to  places  where  no  such  law 
prevails,  as  from  New  York  to  our  Western  States ; 
some  remains,  the  owners  preferring  to  keep  it  near  at 
hand,  and  of  this  a  part  is  invested  in  securities,  such 
as  railway  bonds,  and  thus  also  substantially  goes  to  en- 
terprises in  other  states;   and  for  that  which  is  actu- 
ally lent  out  at  home,  the  borrower  is  obliged  to  pay  a 
premium,  or  sum  down  on  receiving  the  loan,  which 
really  raises  the  rate  he  pays,  and  raises  it  in  a  manner 
unprofitable  to  him,  because  it  obliges  him  to  pay  a  con- 
siderable sum  down,  of  which  he  entirely  loses  the  use, 
and  on  which  he  gets  no  interest.     Moreover,  where 
usury  laws  prevail  and  are  enforced,  borrowers  have 
generally  to  fee  an  agent  or  middle-man,  who  receives 
the  premium,  in   order  to   save   the  lender  harmless 
against  the  law.     Thus  not  only  do  usury  laws  make 
capital  less  abundant — and  of  course  enterprises  and 
wages  less  in  the  same  measure — but  the  borrower  him- 
self is  usually  injured  by  having  to  pay  premiums  grad- 
uated upon  his  individual  necessities,  and  not  upon  the 
general  demand  for  money. 

181.  On  the  other  hand,  many  of  the  Western  States 
will  show  you  the  advantage,  not  merely  to  a  country, 
but  to  the  individual  laboring  man,  of  letting  borrower 
and  lender  arrange  their  own  terms.     These  states  were 


94  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

rapidly  built  up  on  borrowed  capital,  which  they  drew 
from  the  East  by  the  offer  of  high  rates  of  interest. 
Cultivating  a  rich  soil,  and  settled  on  cheap  lands,  the 
Western  farmers  could  afford" to  pay  high  rates  of  inter- 
est, because  their  returns  were  very  great.  An  Indiana 
farmer  twenty  years  ago  could  well  afford  to  give  twen- 
ty per  cent,  for  money,  because  if  he  used  it  to  buy 
Congress  land  and  plant  corn,  his  first  crop  often  paid 
for  his  whole  investment.  "If  I  can  make  thirty  per 
cent.,  why  should  I  hesitate  to  pay  fifteen  ?"  said  a  sen- 
sible Western  farmer  to  me  only  a  few  years  ago.  Ob- 
viously he  was  right ;  and  a  law  prohibiting  him  from 
paying  more  than  seven  would  have  been  an  injury  to 
him  and  to  hundreds  of  others  like  him — namely,  labor- 
ing men  without  capital,  but  able  to  make  extraordinary 
gains  by  their  labor  if  only  they  could  borrow  a  little 
capital.  It  would  have  injured  them,  because  they  could 
have  borrowed  no  money  at  a  low  rate.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, a  laboring  man  who,  by  saving  his  wages,  was 
able  to  buy  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  Congress 
land,  but  must  borrow  the  means  to  plant  his  crop  and 
harvest  it.  He  could  afford  to  pay  a  high  rate  of  inter- 
est ;  he  could  not  afford  to  let  his  land  lie  idle.  It  was 
the  poor  'man  who  was  benefited  by  the  power  to  borrow, 
of  which  a  usury  law  would  have  deprived  him  by  keep- 
ing money  out  of  the  state. 

182.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  high  interest  eats  up 
the  poor.  But  plainly  it  is  only  the  improvident  or 
speculative  poor  who  suffer.  On  the  contrary,  it  ought 
to  be  said  that  natural  rates  of  interest  will  make  men 
more  prudent  in  entering  upon  new  enterprises;  for 
they  will  more  accurately  count  the  cost,  and  will  be 


OF   USURY  LAWS.  95 

less  apt  to  expose  themselves  to  vicissitudes  and  chances. 
Many  a  man  borrows  at  seven  per  cent.,  and  pays  a 
premium  making  his  interest  equal  to  ten  or  twelve, 
who  would  hesitate  to  borrow  at  ten  or  twelve  per  cent, 
outright. 

183.  Bear  in  mind,  then,  that  usury  laws  are  injurious 
chiefly  to  those  who  labor  for  wages,  by  lessening  the 
wages  fund  of  the  country,  and  by  disabling  them  from 
borrowing  sums  by  the  help  of  which  they  might,  with 
energy  and  prudence,  become  capitalists  in  their  turn, 
and  achieve  independence. 

184.  You  see,  therefore,  how  foolish  is  the  policy  of 
the  trades-unions  and  other  labor  associations,  which  op- 
pose the  repeal  of  usury  laws  in  the  states,  and  have 
even  demanded  that  Congress  shall  enact  such  a  law  to 
apply  to  the  whole  United  States. 


96  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 


XXII. 

OF  BANKS,  BANKING,  AND   CREDIT. 

185.  If  I  have  a  thousand  dollars  which  I  shall  need 
to  use  three  months  from  now,  but  do  not  need  in  the 
mean  time,  it  would  be  an  advantage  to  me  to  be  able  to 
lend  it  out  at  interest  for  three  months.     But  it  might 
happen  that  you  wanted  to  use  a  thousand  dollars  for 
three  months  and  no  more ;  and  it  would  be  an  advan- 
tage to  you  to  be  able  to  borrow,  not  for  a  year  or  a 
longer  term,  but  for  three  months  only.     If  we  two 
could  know  of  each  other's  wants  at  the  right  time,  both 
of  us  would  be  benefited ;  and  not  we  two  only,  but  also 
all  whom  our  joint  arrangement  enabled  you  to  employ 
with  my  thousand  dollars,  and  me  with  the  interest  I 
received  of  you. 

186.  In  every  civilized  community  there   are   daily 
hundreds,  or  rather  hundreds  of  thousands,  of  such  in- 
stances; and  BANKS  are  established  to  enable  the  bor- 
rower and  lender  to  be  quickly  accommodated.     Expe- 
rience has  shown  that  the  demand  of  lenders  can  be 
foretold,  depending,  as  it  does,  upon  business  transac- 
tions arising  out  of  commerce,  manufactures,  and  agri- 
culture, which  have  their  regular  periods.     A  banker, 
therefore,  acts  upon  his  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  com- 
merce  and  the   laws   of   nature,  which   tell  him  that 
money  realized  by  one  set  of  transactions  may  be  safely 


OF  BANKS,  BANKING,   AND   CREDIT.  97 

loaned  to  persons  engaged  in  another  set,  to  be  returned 
in  time  to  be  used  for  a  third,  and  so  on.  You  can  see, 
for  instance,  that  a  miller,  having  sold  his  flour,  can 
lend  his  money,  to  a  farmer,  who  wants  to  plant  his 
crop ;  provided  that  at  harvest  the  farmer,  who  will 
then  sell  his  crop,  will  return  the  loan  to  the  miller. 
The  storekeeper,  with  whom  laborers  spend  their  wages 
for  the  necessaries  of  life,  receives  meantime  money, 
which  he  may  lend  to  the  miller  in  case  he  should  want 
to  repair  his  machinery. 

187.  A  bank  is  an  association  to  facilitate  such  loans, 
and  its  interests  are  therefore  harmonious  with  those  of 
the  whole  community,  and  especially  with  those  of  the 
class  who  work  for  wages ;  because  the  less  capital  lies 
idle,  the  more  will  be  at  the  disposal  of  those  who  want 
to  employ  labor  and  pay  wages. 

188.  A  bank  is  in  fact  an  association  for  the  safe- 
keeping and  the  loaning  of  money.     It  becomes  respon- 
sible to  us  for  the  money  we  deposit  with  it ;  allows  us 
to  draw  checks  at  will  against  our  deposits;  in  some 
cases  pays   us  a  low  rate  of  interest  on  the  sums  we 
leave  with  it ;  and  makes  its  profit  by  lending  at  higher 
rates.     As  it  is  responsible  to  us  for  our  money,  it  must 
lend  on  good  security  only,  and  must  know  the  charac- 
ter as  well  as  the  circumstances  of  borrowers ;  and  as  it 
must  return  us  our  money  at  any  time,  and  without  pre- 
vious notice,  its  managers  can  lend  only  at  short  dates, 
or  "  on  call " — that  is,  to  be  repaid  by  the  borrower  after 
a  short  interval,  or  on  demand.     And  it  is  to  the  bank- 
er's interest  not  only  to  make  as  many  loans  as  possible, 
but  to  make  them  prudently,  to  competent  men  on  good 
security ;  for  he  has  capital  of  his  own  at  stake,  and  if 

E 


98  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

he  should  fail  to  pay  his  depositors  on  demand,  they 
would  close  his  bank  and  seize  his  property. 

189.  Thus  you  see  that  a  bank  is  a  means  for  the  eco- 
nomical use  of  capital ;  and  every  economy  of  this  kind 
makes  more  abundant  the  fund  out  of  which  wages  are 
paid,  and  thus  secures  a  greater  range  and  amount  of 
employment  to  those  who  work  for  wages. 

190.  What  is  thus  true  of  banks  is,  of  course,  equally 
true  of  credit  in  general.    If  a  mechanic,  on  the  strength 
of  his  good  name  and  of  his  chest  of  tools,  can  borrow  a 
hundred  dollars  for  a  year  or  for  a  term  of  years,  and 
if  he  has  a  profitable  use  for  the  money,  evidently  he  is 
benefited  by  the  credit  he  has.     He  may  use  it  to  pay 
the  wages  of  men  he  employs;  and  with  the  help  of  a 
small  loan  may  in  time  achieve  real  independence.    And 
if,  after  having  accumulated  property,  his  character  and 
property  secure  him  credit  for  ten  thousand  dollars,  and 
enable  him  to  employ  fifty  or  a  hundred  men,  still  that 
credit  would  be  a  benefit  not  only  to  him,  but  to  all 
whom  by  its  help  he  was  able  to  employ  for  wages. 

191.  Thus  credit  is  useful  to  the  poor,  and  not  mere- 
ly to  the  rich  /  and  to  the  many,  and  not  only  to  the 
individuals  who  have  or  use  it. 

192.  But  it  may  be  misused ;  as  if  I  should  borrow 
money  to  be  used  in  an  enterprise,  as  a  mill,  which  was 
unprofitable.     Here  my  laborers  would  still  receive  the 
money  in  wages.     I  should  lose  that ;  but  they  and  the 
mass  of  laborers  also  would  lose,  secondarily,  because 
the  capital  sunk  or  lost  in  the  unprofitable  mill  would 
be  dead ;  it  would  never  more  be  available  for  wages  or 
consumption ;  it  could  not  increase,  and  would  produce 
no  profits  available  for  wages;  and  by  every  such  loss 


OF  BANKS,  SANK  TNG,  AND  CREDIT.       99 

of  capital,  the  whole  community,  including,  as  you 
plainly  see,  the  laborers  for  wages — the  non-capitalists 
as  well  as  the  capitalists — are  the  poorer.  Thus  when  a 
bad  law  tempts  or  forces  capital  into  naturally  unprofit- 
able industries,  this  is  a  loss  to  the  mass  of  the  laborers 
as  well  as  to  the  owners  of  the  capital. 

193.  In  many  cases,  indeed,  the  individual  capitalist 
prudently  saves  himself  from  loss,  by  insurance.     Thus 
when  a  mill  or  factory  is  burned  down,  or  swept  away 
by  a  broken  dam,  the  owners  may  receive  its  full  value 
from  an  insurance  company  ;  they  may  use  this  money 
to  rebuild  their  factory,  and  thus  give  temporary  em- 
ployment to  a  large  number  of  men ;  and  to  a  superfi- 
cial view  the  loss  might  appear  a  gain.     But  you  must 
see  that,  first,  the  operatives  stand  idle  while  the  mill  is 
rebuilding;  or  if  they  seek  employment  elsewhere,  do 
so  at  a  loss  to  themselves  by  the  cost  of  removal,  and  at 
a  loss  to  others  of  their  own  class  by  increasing  the  sup- 
ply of  their  kind  of  labor  at  the  very  time  that  the  de- 
mand is  diminished ;  and,  second,  the  old  mill  rebuilt 
will   only  give   employment  to  its  former  operatives, 
while  if  the  mill  had  not  been  destroyed,  the  capital 
used  in  rebuilding  it  would  have  been  available  for  a 
new  mill  or  other  enterprise,  which  would  have  given 
employment  to  an  additional  number  of  hands. 

194.  Thus  you  see  that  destruction  of  capital  works 
to  the  injury  of  the  non-capitalist  class;  and  that  the 
Chicago  fire,  though  it  gave  employment  for  a  time  to  a 
multitude  of  carpenters,  masons,  bricklayers,  and  others, 
and  caused  an  artificial  and  seeming  prosperity  in  that 
place,  was  a  loss  to  the  mass  of  our  population,  because 
in  fact  it  lessened  the  capital,  surplus,  or  wealth  of  the; 


100  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

country,  and  thereby  impaired  the  means  of  giving  em- 
ployment all  over  the  land.  The  Boston  and  Chicago 
fires  have  much  to  do  with  the  general  stagnation  in 
business  all  over  the  country  for  the  last  year,  because 
capital  which  would  have  been  used  in  other  enter- 
prises and  expenditures,  and  consequently  in  the  pay- 
ment of  wages  for  other  and  new  production,  has  been 
concentrated  in  Boston  and  Chicago,  and  used  to  repair 
waste  and  losses :  to  replace  what  had  been  destroyed. 

195.  But  an  unprofitable  enterprise  is  just  as  much  a 
destruction  of  capital  as  a  fire ;  and  if  I  should  hire  you 
for  a  year  to  carry  bricks  from  one  side  of  a  road  to  the 
other  and  back,  though  you  might  in  the  mean  time  live 
from  your  wages,  I  should  have  sunk  my  capital,  and 
the  mass  of  the  laborers  in  the  community  would  have 
suffered  a  loss,  because  there  would  be  less  capital  out 
of  which  to  pay  wages. 

196.  Thus  you  see  that  credit,  which  is  only  capital 
in  another  shape,  can  not  be  misused  without  inflicting 
a  loss  on  the  whole  community,  and  especially  on  the 
laborers  for  wages.     And  you  see  how  foolish  are  the 
people  who  would  like  to  have  the  government  borrow 
vast  sums  of  money  to  be  expended  in  what  are  called 
"  public  works,"  of  doubtful  and  certainly  not  establish- 
ed utility ;  for  if  it  were  certain  that  a  new  canal  or 
railroad  or  other  so-called  "  improvement "  would  be 
profitable,  private  capital  would  quickly  create  it.     The 
plea  is  that  such  projects  would  give  employment  to 
great  numbers  of  men.     But  if  they  are  employed  in 
unprofitable  enterprises,  they  and  the  mass  of  laborers  are 
in  the  end  injured  by  the  loss  of  capital,  which  involves 
a  decreased  fund  out  of  which  wages  may  be  paid. 


OF  BANK-NOTES.  101 


XXIII. 

OF  BANK-NOTES. 

197.  Besides  receiving  money  on  deposit,  and  lending 
it  out  on  security,  which  is  their  proper  and  legitimate 
business,  banks  sometimes  issue  notes  or  bills  of  their 
own. 

198.  This  is  a  peculiarly  profitable  business:  for  a 
bank-bill  bears  no  interest;  it  is  liable  to  be  destroyed 
by  fire  or  water ;  it  is  likely  to  remain  out  for  a  consid- 
erable period — indeed,  issue-banks  often  take  pains  to 
cause  their  bills  to  be  circulated  at  a  great  distance  from 
the  'bank  in  order  to  keep  them  out  the  longer ;  and, 
finally,  as  the  bank-bill  becomes  a  medium  of  exchange, 
the  people  are  in  a  manner  compelled  to  accept  it.     But 
if  a  bank  fails,  the  laborers  for  wages,  the  non-capitalists, 
are  sure  to  suffer  most  of  the  loss  which  occurs  from  the 
depreciation  of  the  bills.     A  bank  note  or  bill  has  there- 
fore some  of  the  features  of  a  forced  loan  by  the  bank 
from  the  public. 

199.  In  the  United  States  we  have  been  so  long  ac- 
customed to  see  the  issue  of  bills  made  the  most  con- 
spicuous business  of  a  bank,  that  in  the  common  appre- 
hension  a  bank  is  synonymous   with  a  paper-mill,  a 
machine  to  create  shin-plasters,  and  to  suspend  specie 
payments   whenever,  by    granting   unwise   credit   and 
imprudent  loans,  it  has  helped  to  create  a  commercial 
revulsion. 


102  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

200.  I  want  you,  therefore,  to  fix  in  your  mind  the  fact 
that  the  issue  of  bills  is  not  a  necessary,  and  hardly  a 
legitimate  part  of  the  banking  business;  that  the  most 
solid  and  also  the  most  profitable  banks  in  the  world  do 
not  issue  notes  at  all;  and  that  bank-notes,  though  a 
convenience,  are  not  absolutely  necessary  to  any  people. 
California,  for  instance,  had  in  1873  a  number  of  re- 
markably solid,  useful,  and  profitable  banks,  but  it  had 
only  two  banks  of  issue ;  and  as  it  might  have  had  many 
more,  their  absence  is  a  proof  that  they  were  not  needed. 

201.  A  lank-note  is  not  money  /  on  the  contrary,  it 
is  only  a  promise  to  pay  money.     It  is  one  of  several 
kinds  of  promises  to  pay ;  and  differs  from  the  others 
mainly  in  these  particulars — that  it  bears  no  interest, 
and  that  the  holder  has  no  security  in  his  own  hands. 

202.  If  you  have  in  your  pocket  a  twenty-dollar  gold- 
piece,  you  have  actually  in  your  possession  that  much 
value.     But  if  you  have  in  your  pocket  a  bank-note  for 
twenty  dollars,  you  have  only  a  certificate  that  somebody 
else,  a  bank,  namely,  which  may  be  a  thousand  miles 
distant,  and  of  whose  managers  you  know  nothing,  has 
your  twenty  dollars. 

203.  Now,  if  you  wished  to  carry  about  with  you  two 
or"  three  hundred,  or  even  one  hundred  dollars,  it  would 
obviously  be  more  convenient  to  carry  bank-notes  to  that 
amount  than  money ;  for  the  paper  bills  are  lighter  than 
coin,  and  more  easily  concealed  from  thieves. 

204.  This  convenience  of  carriage  and  concealment  is 
the  only  excuse  for  the  existence  of  bank-bills,  and  it  is 
a  sufficient  excuse  where  men  need  to  carry  about  con- 
siderable sums.    But  a  laboring  man,  whose  whole  wages 
for  a  week  amount  perhaps  to  less  than  twenty  dollars, 


OF  BANK-NOTES.  103 

and  who  pays  out  the  greater  part  of  this  sum  at  once 
for  subsistence,  is  not  inconvenienced  by  the  weight  of 
his  money.  He  does  not  need  bank-bills ;  and  there  is 
no  need  for  small  bills  to  accommodate  him.  Small 
bills,  of  less  denominations  than  five  dollars,  are  in  some 
respects  a  convenience ;  but  their  use  drives  coin  out  of 
circulation,  and  so  does  an  injury,  in  a  time  of  commer- 
cial panic,  by  helping  to  cripple  the  banks.  Moreover, 
the  poor,  who  are  usually  the  holders  of  small  bills,  in  a 
time  of  bank  failures  are  sure  to  suffer  loss  from  such 
bills ;  and  it  is  not  fair  that  they  should  be  thus  exposed. 

205.  For  these  reasons  the  issue  of  bank-bills  for  sums 
smaller  than  five  dollars  ought  to  be  totally  prohibited. 

206.  A  bank-note,  being  only  a  certificate  that  the 
bank  has  the  bill-holder's  money,  may  be  accepted  as  a 
public  convenience,  if  the  public  is  willing ;  but  as  every 
man  has  a  right  to  his  own  property  at  all  times,  it  is 
clear  that  the  bank  has  no  right  to  refuse  me  money— 
which  is  mine — whenever  I  present  its  bill.     You  may 
for  your  own  convenience  allow  the  bank  to  keep  your 
twenty-dollar  gold-piece;  but  you  ought  to  have  the 
power  to  call  the  money  back  into  your  own  possession 
at  any  time ;  for  if  you  could  not  do  that,  you  would 
keep  your  money  and  refuse  the  bill. 

207.  Hence  bank-notes  can  not  be  made  a  legal  tender, 
because  they  are  not  money,  but  only  the  certificates 
showing  that  somebody  else  has  your  money ;  and  they 
ought  always  to  be  redeemable  at  will  in  coin,  which 
alone  is  money. 

20S.  When  a  bank  issues  notes  or  bills,  its  object  is  to 
gain  money  by  borrowing  without  interest,  of  the  general 
public.  If  it  issues  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 


104  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

bills,  that  implies  that  it  holds  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  in  money  in  its  vaults  or  till,  ready  to  redeem 
these  bills.  In  practice,  however,  banks  do  not  keep 
so  much  money  idle ;  they  keep  on  hand  only  such  a 
smaller  sum  as  general  experience  has  shown  to  be  usu- 
ally sufficient  for  redemption.  But  experience  has  also 
shown  that  all  bankers  are  not  prudent  or  wise;  and 
hence  the  government  now  rightly  requires  that  a  bank, 
before  it  issues  bills  or  notes,  shall  deposit  a  sum  in 
property  at  all  times  readily  convertible  into  coin, 
which  shall  be  held  for  the  redemption  of  the  bills. 
United  States  bonds,  which  are  the  best  security  we  have, 
and  most  readily  convertible  into  money,  are  used  for 
this  purpose. 

209.  With  the  management  of  banks  which  confine 
themselves  to  the  business  of  receiving  deposits  and 
making  loans  the  government  has  no  right  to  interfere 
— any  more  than  it  does  with  the  business  of  a  merchant, 
farmer,  or  shopkeeper.     For  I  have  no  more  right  to 
expect  the  government  to  care  for  the  safe-keeping  of 
my  money  than  of  my  goods  in  store,  my  house,  or  other 
property. 

210.  Banks  of  issue,  however,  stand  in  a  different  cate- 
gory.    They  exercise  a  power  over  the  public  so  great 
and  so  liable  to  abuse,  in  the  privilege  granted  them  to 
issue  non-interest-bearing  notes,  without  security  in  the 
holders'  hands,  things  which  take  the  place  of  money, 
that  the  people  have  a  right  to  demand  that  such  issues 
shall  be  made  only  under  rigid  checks. 

211.  It  is  proper,  therefore,  that  the  government  shall 
require  the  deposit  of  United  States  bonds  to  an  amount 
greater  than  the  amount  of  bills  issued.     Should  the 


OF  BANK-NOTES.  105 

bank  fail,  these  bonds  would  be  sold  by  the  government, 
and  out  of  the  proceeds  the  bill-holders  would  be  paid 
first.  Under  this,  which  is  called  the  National  Banking 
System,  the  bill-holders  are  secure  against  loss  by  fail- 
ure of  the  bank ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  system 
is  more  secure,  and  of  greater  public  convenience  than 
any  system  of  state  banks.  It  was  first  applied  by  the 
State  of  New  York  to  its  own  banks;  and  Secretary 
Chase,  seeing  its  merits,  applied  it  to  the  whole  country. 

212.  With  this  ought  to  go  a  law  rigidly  requiring  the 
banks  at  all  times  to  redeem  their  bills  in  money ;  and 
providing  for  the  instant  forfeit  of  a  bank's  charter  the 
moment  it  refuses  this,  its  primary  duty.     Unfortunate- 
ly, hitherto  in  this  country  banks  have  been  allowed  to 
suspend  specie  payments  in  every   great  commercial 
panic ;  and  as  they  long  ago  learned  to  count  upon  this, 
they  were  induced,  by  the  security  of  exemption  from 
punishment,  to  make  imprudent  loans,  and  for  their  own 
gains  to  help  on  the  coming  crisis. 

213.  But  with  a  sufficient  deposit  of  bonds  in  the 
Treasury,  a  prohibition  against  small  bills,  and  rigid  pun- 
ishment for  a  suspension  of  specie  payments,  there  is 
no  sound  reason  why  any  one  who  desires  should  not 
be  allowed  to  set  up  a  lank  of  issue,  in  any  part  of  the 
country.     If  they  become  too  numerous,  they  will  cease 
to  be  profitable,  for  the  bills  will  be  sent  home  for  re- 
demption too  constantly,  and  the  superfluous  banks  will 
wind  up  their  affairs. 

214.  You  will  see  by  this  the  folly  of  the  debates  in 
Congress  about  regulating  the  number  of  banks  of  is- 
sue, and  their  distribution  over  the  country — as  though, 
when  national  bank-bills  circulate  with  equal  credit  in 

E  2 


106  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

every  part  of  the  United  States,  it  could  make  any  dif- 
ference where  the  banks  happened  to  be  placed. 

215.  Also  you  will  see  the  ignorance  of  those  leaders 
of  the  labor  movement  who  cry  out  against  national 
banks  as  monopolies,  making  huge  profits  out  of  the 
people.     That  this  is  the  rankest  of  follies  will  be  plain 
to  you  if  you  remember  that  a  bank-note  is  used  only 
as  a  convenience  by  the  people ;  and  that,  under  prop- 
er regulations  promptly  enforced,  banks  of  issue  are  a 
real  and  important  convenience  ;  while  banks  of  deposit 
and  credit  are,  as  you  have  seen,  of  the  greatest  and 
most  positive  advantage  to  the  mass  of  laborers  for  wages. 

216.  If  the  labor -movement  leaders  had  brains  and 
honesty  enough  to  demand  a  resumption  of  specie  pay- 
ments by  the  banks,  they  would  do  the  country  a  real 
and  very  great  service ;  but  instead  of  that  they  cry 
for  "  more  greenbacks,"  about  which  I  will  next  proceed 
to  tell  you  something.     But  I  must  first  explain  to  you 
that,  under  the  present  currency  system,  the  national 
banks  are  obliged  by  law  to  redeem  their  notes,  not  in 
money,  but  in  greenbacks ;  which  means  that  they  ex- 
change their  own  for  the  government's  irredeemable 
promise  to  pay  money.    If  two  wrongs  ever  made  a  right, 
this  plan  might  have  some  merit.     It  would  be  better, 
because  simpler,  to  absolve  the  banks  from  redemption 
of  any  kind  for  a  specified  time ;   and  thus   separate 
their  currency  from  that  of  the  government.    Then  they 
would  at  least  prepare  themselves  for  resumption,  which 
now  they  do  not.     At  present  every  attempt  to  with- 
draw greenbacks  from  circulation — the  first  duty  of  the 
government,  if  it  is  honest — threatens  and  alarms  the 
banks,  who  see  the  power  of  redeeming  their  notes  less- 


OF  BANK-NOTES.  107 

ened,  and  themselves  fatally  embarrassed ;  and  thus, 
while  we  keep  up  the  absurd  farce  of  making  the  banks 
redeem  their  notes  in  greenbacks — which  means  only 
that  we  exchange  one  irredeemable  promise  to  pay  for 
another — we  force  them  to  oppose  with  all  their  strength 
all  attempts  by  the  government  to  redeem  and  withdraw 
its  greenbacks ;  and  in  fact  oblige  the  banks  to  lend  their 
countenance,  openly  or  secretly,  to  every  movement  for 
"  more  greenbacks."  For  obviously,  if  the  issue  of  these 
government  notes  could  be  doubled,  the  banks  would 
find  it  easier  and  cheaper  to  redeem  their  notes  in  them. 


108  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XXIV. 

OF  "MORE  GREENBACKS." 

217.  A  Greenback  is  a  non-interest-bearing  promise  to 
pay  money,  issued  by  the  government,  and  for  whose  re- 
demption the  holder  has  no  security  in  his  own  hands. 
It  is,  so  far,  precisely  like  a  bank-note ;  but  it  has  two 
features  which  make  it  differ  from  a  common  bank-note : 
you  can  not  sue  the  issuer  of  the  note — the  govern- 
ment, namely — and  that  has  used  its  power  to  make  it 
a  legal  tender.     A  bank-note,  as  you  saw  a  while  back, 
has  some  of  the  features  of  a  forced  loan ;  the  green- 
back has  all — it  is  a  forced  loan.     If  I  should  compel 
you  to  give  me  your  dollars  in  exchange  for  a  piece  of 
paper  on  which  I  had  written  simply  "  I  O  II "  so  much, 
that  would  be  a  forced  loan — you  would  probably  call 
it  a  robbery ;  and  that  is  precisely  what  the  government 
did  when  it  issued  irredeemable  promises  to  pay,  and 
made  them  a  legal  tender. 

218.  If  a  banker  issues  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
in  bills,  that  is  evidence  that  he  is  the  owner  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  in  money  or  other  property,  which 
—  or,  more   correctly,  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
dollars  —  he  has  deposited  in  the  Treasury  as  security 
that  he  will  redeem  his  notes  on  demand. 

219.  If  now  a  banker  were  to  set  up  a  claim  to  issue 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  bills,  on  the  plea  that 
he  had  no  money  or  property  at  all  with  which  to  re- 


OF  "MORE  GREENBACKS."  1Q9 

deem  them,  he  would  be  rightly  thought  a  fool ;  and  if 
he  persisted  in  such  an  absurdity,  he  would  be  sent  by 
his  friends  to  the  lunatic  asylum.  If  he  should  de- 
mand, besides,  that  these  bills  which  he  desires  to  issue 
should  be  declared  a  legal  tender,  no  doubt  lie  would 
be  put  into  a  strait-jacket,  or  sent  to  the  incurable  ward, 
and  the  lowest  attendant  in  the  asylum  would  laugh  at 
him  as  an  absurd  creature;  for  it  would  require  very 
little  brains  to  see  his  blunder. 

220.  But  this  is  precisely  what  the  government  does 
in  issuing  greenbacks.     It  issues  promises  to  pay,  on  the 
plea  that  it  has  no  money ;  and  it  makes  them  a  legal 
tender  because  they  are  not  good.     For  if  they  were 
good,  it  would  not  need  to  force  us  to  accept  them,  which 
is  the  only  object  of  the  legal-tender  clause ;  and  if  the 
government  had  money,  it  could  have  no  excuse  or  oc- 
casion for  issuing  notes. 

221.  For  you  must  not  forget,  what  was  shown  you 
under  the  head  of  Taxes,  that  a  government  can  earn  or 
create  nothing ;  it  is  not  a  producer.     Again,  you  saw, 
under  the  head  of  Money,  that  when  the  government 
coins  money  it  does  not  create  gold  or  silver ;  nor  does 
it  add  to  their  value  by  coining  them ;  it  does  not  even 
own  the  metal  it  coins ;  but  only,  for  the  general  con- 
venience, stamps  your  or  my  or  John  Smith's  gold  with 
its  certificate  that  each  piece  contains  a  specified  quan- 
tity of  the  metal. 

222.  This  service  plainly  gives  it  no  right  to  declare 
any  thing  else  money ;  but  if  it  did,  it  would  be  you  or 
I  or  John  Smith,  and  not  the  government  itself,  who 
would  have  the  right  to  carry  iron  or  paper  to  the  mint 
to  be  stamped. 


HO  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

223.  Nor  does  its  authority  to  declare  the  gold  it 
stamps  a  legal  tender  give  it  power  to  make  any  thing 
— even  gold — a  legal  tender  for  more  than  its  actual  and 
real  value.     For  in  all  this  it  creates  nothing :  it  only 
exercises  a  power  delegated  to  it  for  the  general  conven- 
ience, to  make  public  declaration  of  a  value  already 
existing. 

224.  Let  me  repeat  to  you  once  more  that  a  govern- 
ment has  no  power  to  create  value  in  any  way  or  sense ; 
for  it  does  none  of  the  things  out  of  which,  we  have 
seen  before,  value  grows :  it  neither  produces,  nor  ex- 
changes, nor  saves  /  it  only  expends  or  destroys  whatever 
is  given  to  it  by  society.     It  is,  in  fact,  like  a  pauper ; 
for,  like  a  pauper,  it  exists  by  the  contributions  of  oth- 
ers ;  and  as  it  can  have  no  surplus,  but  necessarily  lives 
from  hand  to  mouth,  and  by  the  labor  of  others,  a  pau- 
per might  as  well  put  out  demand  notes  as  a  govern- 
ment ;  for  the  bills  of  each  would  represent,  not  existing 
values,  but  values  destroyed  and  extinct,  and  therefore 
not  values  at  all,  but  nothing.     If  you  will  reflect  that 
in  order  to  call  in  and  redeem  the  greenbacks  the  gov- 
ernment would  have  to  first  raise  money  by  taxes — or  by 
what  is  in  the  long  run  the  same  thing,  by  sales  of 
bonds — you  will  see  that  the  greenback  is  simply  a  cer- 
tificate that  the  government  has  actually  spent  and  de- 
stroyed that  much  property  ;  and  that,  as  before  said,  it 
represents,  not  value  existing,  but  value  extinct,  which  is 
nothing. 

225.  You  will  see  by  this  the  extraordinary  hallucina- 
tion of  those  people  who  cry  out  for  "  more  greenbacks." 
In  a  time  of  war,  when  the  expenditures  of  the  govern- 
ment enormously  exceeded  the  largest  sum  it  could  raise 


OF  "MORE  GREENBACKS." 

from  taxes,  it  was  authorized  to  borrow  money.  It  bor- 
rowed many  hundreds  of  millions,  upon  bonds,  or  obli- 
gations promising  to  repay  the  lenders  at  a  certain  time, 
with  interest  at  a  stipulated  rate.  This  was  perfectly 
legitimate  and  honest.  But,  by  a  singular  blunder,  the 
government  also  chose  to  borrow  money  by  a  forced 
loan  from  its  citizens,  for  which  it  gave,  not  interest-bear- 
ing bonds,  but  notes  promising  to  pay,  but  neither  stipu- 
lating time  of  repayment  nor  granting  interest  for  the 
use  of  the  money.  Such  a  note  made  by  an  individual 
would  be  void ;  made  by  the  government,  it  was  toler- 
ated, on  the  express  ground  that  the  government  needed 
vast  sums  for  its  current  expenditures,  and  must  get 
money  where  and  in  whatever  way  it  could. 

226.  But  circumstances  have  changed.  The  taxes 
now  equal  the  expenditures,  and  there  is  a  large  annual 
surplus  even.  How  then  can  we  have  "More  green- 
backs ?"  On  what  excuse,  in  what  way,  for  what  pur- 
pose, can  the  government  borrow  money  ?  What  shall 
it  do  with  the  money  for  which  it  is  to  issue  "  more 
greenbacks  ?"  The  "  more  greenback  "  people  seem  to 
have  perceived  this  dilemma,  and  to  meet  it  they  have 
begun  to  urge  a  great  system  of  "  public  works" — canals, 
railroads,  and  other  costly  improvements.  But  if  we  are 
to  run  in  debt  for  these,  surely  it  is  better  to  do  so  hon- 
estly, by  selling  our  bonds,  than  dishonestly,  by  increas- 
ing the  amount  of  a  forced  loan  which  ought  long  ago 
to  have  been  paid  out  of  the  surplus  revenue,  instead 
of  redeeming  bonds  not  yet  due. 


POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XXV. 

OF   COMMERCE. 

227.  You  have  seen,  under  the  head  of  Property, 
that  the  surplus,  or  that  part  of  his  product  not  needed 
by  the  producer  for  his  own  consumption,  has  no  real 
value,  and  can  not  become  wealth  or  capital  unless  he 
can  exchange  it  for  something  else. 

228.  It  is  not  less  true  that  the  value  of  the  surplus 
grows  in  the  precise  measure  in  which  the  facility  of 
exchanging  it  is  increased. 

229.  The  Nebraska  farmer,  unable  to  get  his  corn  to 
market,  is  forced  to  burn  it  as  fuel ;  and  no  matter  how 
rich  his  land,  or  how  great  his  crop,  the  surplus  on  his 
hands  is  after  all  worth  only  so  much  wood.     If  he 
could  send  it  to  Chicago,  it  would  be  worth  a  good  deal 
more  than  so  much  fuel.     If  he  could  as  cheaply  send 
it  to  New  York  as  to  Chicago,  it  would  bring  him  a 
still  greater  price ;  and  its  value  to  him  would  be  in- 
creased with  every  market  he  could  touch.     When  I 
was  a  boy,  Ohio  had  no  railroads,  and  the  farmers  near 
Cincinnati  used  to  sell  eggs  in  that  market  for  three 
cents   a  dozen,  because   that   was  their  only  market. 
Railroads  have  so  greatly  increased  for  them  the  facility 
of  exchanging  eggs,  that  they  now  get  even  in  Cincin- 
nati probably  at  least  five  times  as  much  as  formerly. 
You  can  see  that  they  gain  this  great  advantage  simply 


OF  COMMERCE.  113 

by  increased  facility  of  exchange.     Railroads  have  ex- 
tended their  market  for  selling  eggs. 

230.  Nor  is  this  increased  facility  of  exchanging  eggs 
for  other  products  a  benefit  to  the  farmer  alone ;  for  if 
formerly,  for  lack  of  cheap  transportation,  eggs  were 
very  cheap  in  Cincinnati,  they  were  very  dear  in  many 
other  places.     To  facilitate  the  exchange  only  equalized 
the  prices,  and  thus  increased  the  comfort  of  the  mass 
of  consumers,  and  also  the  wealth  of  the  mass  of  pro- 
ducers.    For  if  eggs  were  any  where  very  dear,  that  is 
a  proof  that  they  were  scarce  there  ;  and  facility  of  ex- 
change created  abundance  where  before  was  scarcity. 

231.  Pray  fix  in  your  mind  therefore  this  fundament- 
al truth,  that  every  impediment  to  the  exchange  of  prod- 
ucts is  an  injury ;  and  that  every  removal  of  such  an 
impediment  is  a  benefit,  because  it  increases  the  rewards 
of  the  mass  of  producers,  and  the  abundance,  and  hence 
the  comfort  and  happiness  of  the  mass  of  consumers. 

232.  Hence  the  satisfaction  with  which  people  wel- 
come railroads ;  the  benefit  of  steamboats,  steamships, 
bridges,  and  all  other  means  by  which  wre  decrease  the 
cost   of   transportation.      For  you   can   see    that  if  a 
farmer  can  send  his  eggs  to  only  one  place,  Cincinnati, 
where  n\en  want  to  buy  eggs,  he  can  not  hope  to  get  as 
much  for  them  as  if  he  could — with  cheap  transporta- 
tion— send  them  to  any  one  of  a  dozen  cities.     And  as 
he  would  send  his  eggs  only  to  places  where  they  would 
bring  a  higher  price — where  therefore  eggs  were  scarce 
— cheap  transportation,  by  creating  abundance  in  those 
places,  would  benefit  consumers  there. 

233.  Commerce  means  the  exchange  of  products.     If 
I  have  more  hides  than   I  need,  and  you  have  more 


114:  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

clothing  than  you  need,  and  if  I  want  clothing  and  you 
hides,  it  is  plain  that  -we  shall  make  an  exchange  of  our 
surpluses  if  we  can  get  together  and  agree  upon  a  price. 
It  is  clear,  too,  that  we  shall  both  benefit  by  such  an  ex- 
change, because  when  it  is  made,  each  of  us  will  have 
less  of  the  articles  which  he  could  not  use,  and  more  of 
those  which  he  wanted. 

234  Moreover,  you  can  see  that  it  would  be  an  advan- 
tage to  you,  having  clothing  to  exchange  for  hides,  if 
you  could  find,  not  me  alone,  but  a  hundred  others,  with 
surplus  hides  to  exchange  for  clothing,  because  you  would 
hope  thus  to  get  more  hides  for  your  clothing.  It  would 
be  an  equal  advantage  for  me  if  I  were  the  only  possess- 
or of  hides  within  the  reach  of  a  hundred  men  having 
clothing  to  exchange.  But,  evidently,  all  the  owners  of 
surplus  hides  would  be  benefited  if  they  could  come  in 
contact  with  all  the  possessors  of  surplus  clothing  —  be- 
cause thus  the  market  of  all  would  be  broadened,  and 
the  price  would  be  equalized  for  the  mass. 

235.  Thus  you  see  that  unimpeded  commerce  is  a  ben- 
efit to  the  mass  of  producers;  and  that  every  impedi- 
ment preventing  a  part  of  the  owners  of  surplus  clothing 
from  reaching  a  market  of  hides,  while  it  may  be  an  ad- 
vantage to  the  few  who  do  reach  it,  and  who  would  thus 
have  a  monopoly,  would  be  an  in j  ury,  first,  to  those  who 
were  prevented  from  reaching  it ;  but,  second,  and  more 
important,  to  the  whole  of  those  who  were  anxious  to 
exchange  hides  for  clothing. 

236.  Every  impediment  to  free  exchange,  therefore, 
whether  natural  or  artificial,  is  an  injury  to  the  mass 
of  consumers — who  are  the  whole  people. 

237.  Nevertheless,  every  act  of  exchange  which  takes 


OF  COMMERCE.  115 

place,  even  where  a  close  monopoly  exists  on  one  side, 
or  in  regard  to  one  product,  is  still  an  unmixed  benefit, 
for  it  increases  abundance  and  comfort,  though  in  a  less 
measure  than  if  the  monopoly  did  not  impede  free  ex- 
change ;  and  thus  it  would  be  wrong  to  say  that  men, 
under  any  circumstances,  become  poorer  by  voluntary 
exchange.  It  is,  however,  quite  certain  that  capital  in- 
creases far  more  slowly  where  impediments  exist  to  a 
free  exchange  of  surplus  products. 

238.  Impediments  to  the  exchange  of  products  are  ei- 
ther natural  or  artificial.    The  natural  obstacles  are  very 
numerous,  but  may  be  comprised  under  the  general  head 
of  distance.    A  river  is  an  impediment  to  commerce,  un- 
til it  is  bridged  or  a  ferry-boat  crosses  it ;  an  ocean  is  a 
greater,  which  can  be  overcome  only  with  the  help  of 
ships.     Differences  in 'language  and  habits  are  natural 
impediments.    Providence,  which  placed  natural  imped- 
iments in  the  way  of  the  exchange  of  products,  gave  to 
different  and  distant  parts  of  the  earth  different  climates, 
soils,  and  capacities  for  production,  so  that  what  is  pro- 
duced in  one  country  is  needed  in  many  others ;  and  ev- 
ery part  of  the  earth  is  fitted  to  produce  something  which 
is  desired  by  the  people  of  other  parts. 

239.  You  will  quickly  see  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator 
in  this,  for  it  compels  mankind  to  intercourse  with  each 
other ;  and  commerce  is  thus  one  of  the  main  agents  in 
spreading  civilization  over  the  world,  in  bringing  men 
and  nations  together  in  a  humane  and  brotherly  spirit; 
in  subduing  barbarism,  preserving  the  peace,  and  in  in- 
creasing constantly  the  area  over  which  industry  and 
self-denial  are  rewarded,  property  is  made  secure,  and 
civilization  becomes  possible. 


116  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

240.  Imagine  a  nation  which  was  so  favored  by  cli- 
mate and  soil  that  it  could  and  did  produce  within  its 
bounds  all  and  every  thing  that  its  members  required, 
and  you  will  see  that  such  a  nation  would  soon  cease 
to  have  any  influence  upon  the  outer  world — for  good  at 
least ;  it  would  become  selfish ;  would  scorn,  because  it 
did  not  need,  commerce ;  would  lose  the  immense  advan- 
tage of  intercourse  with  other  nations ;  and,  having  no 
such  commerce  or  intercourse,  would  presently  contract 
vices,  such  as  ignorance,  superstition,  contempt  of  for- 
eigners, and  disregard  of  justice,  which  would  degrade 
its  civilization.     But  imagine  the  earth  divided  among 
nations,  each  sufficient  to  itself,  and  you  will  see  Africa 
or  Greenland  reproduced  all  over  the  planet. 

241.  Moreover,  God,  whose  design  in  surrounding  our 
lives  with  difficulties  evidently  was  to  force  us  to  exer- 
cise ingenuity,  courage,  persistence,  patience,  daring,  and 
enterprise — all  those  which  we  call  manly  virtues  —  had 
this  in  view  also  in  creating  impediments  to  intercourse 
between  men  in  distant  parts  of  the  earth,  but  at  the 
same  time  making  such  intercourse,  for  the  purpose  of 
exchanging  products,  absolutely  essential  to  our  comfort 
and  highest  well-being ;  and  impelling  us  therefore,  by 
the  most  powerful  motives,  to  overcome  the  impediments 
he  has  created ;   and  making  us  feel  that  we  are  the 
higher  and  the  better,  as  well  as  the  wealthier  and  more 
comfortable  beings,  in  the  measure  that  we  do  overcome 
them.    There  is  no  doubt  that  the  character  of  the  whole 
Chinese  nation  has  been  degraded  by  their  long-contin- 
ued abstinence  from  foreign  commerce,  and  their  con- 
sequent seclusion  from  other  nations.     Had  they  during 
the  many  centuries  of  this  seclusion  been  actively  en- 


OF  COMMERCE.  117 

gaged  in  foreign  commerce,  it  is  certain  they  \vould 
have  been  less  selfish,  less  ignorant,  less  superstitious, 
more  courageous  and  enterprising,  and  more  truthful 
and  just,  than  as  a  nation  they  now  are. 

242.  Artificial  obstacles  to  exchange  arise  out  of  laws, 
which  either  prohibit  exchange  with  foreigners  entirely, 
as  formerly  in  Japan,  or  lay  a  penalty  on  such  exchange, 
as  regards  certain  products :  this  is  still  done  in  many 
countries,  among  them  our  own. 

243.  All  such  artificial  restrictions  are  impolitic,  inju- 
rious, and,  unless  all  commerce  is  prohibited,  necessarily 
partial  and  unjust. 

244.  It  is  possible  to  imagine  a  nation  like  the  Japan- 
ese determining  for  religious  or  other  reasons  to  seclude 
themselves  entirely  from  the  world  ;  and  therefore  total- 
ly prohibiting  commercial  as  well  as  other  intercourse 
with  foreigners.    In  such  a  case  the  whole  people  accept 
less  abundance,  and  deny  themselves  comforts  and  lux- 
uries which  they  can  not  themselves  produce.    All  are 
injured,  all  suffer  loss  and  deprivation;  and  if  injustice 
is  done,  it  is  by  all  to  all. 

245.  But  among  civilized  nations,  like  our  own,  the 
prohibitions  and  penalties  on  foreign  exchange  are  no- 
where of  this  character ;  they  are-  always  partial — being 
laid  only  upon  a  few  articles ;  and  thus  an  essential  in- 
justice is  done  to  those  who  would,  if  they  were  allowed, 
exchange  their  products  for  those  articles  which  are  for- 
bidden them,  or  who  must  pay  a  penalty  for  such  ex- 
change.    For  instance,  if  I  am  a  farmer,  who  need  to 
exchange  my  surplus  wheat  for  clothing,  it  is  an  injus- 
tice to  me  if  the  law  forbids  me  to  make  this  exchange 
wherever  I  may  choose ;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  if  by  any 


118  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

impediment  it  narrows  my  market,  it  lowers  my  profit. 
I  may  be  able  to  get  more  cloth  for  my  wheat  in  Ger- 
many than  in  rny  own  neighborhood :  a  law  which  makes 
me  pay  a  penalty  for  doing  so  is  clearly  partial  and  un- 
just. Or  I  may  be  a  blacksmith,  and  prefer  Swedish 
bars  for  my  horse-shoes;  why  should  you,  who  make 
American  bars,  urge  a  law  to  make  me  pay  a  penalty 
for  my  preference  ? 

246.  Fix  in  your  mind  that  Commerce  is  not  a  swin- 
dling transaction,  but  a  purely  beneficial  operation; 
that  every  act  of  honest  trade  increases  the  happiness 
and  prosperity  of  all  who  are  concerned  in  it  /  that 
when  we  two  exchange  products,  each  is  the  more  com- 
fortable and  the  better  off  for  the  exchange — for  each 
has  given  that  which  he  wanted  less  for  that  which  he 
wanted  more. 

247.  God,  who  placed  natural  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
free  exchange,  has  yet  made  it  laudable  and  beneficial 
in  us  to  use  all  our  strength  and  ingenuity  in  overcom- 
ing these  impediments  which  he  has  placed  in  the  way 
of  the  freest  and  widest  exchange  of  commodities. 

248.  When,  therefore,  human  governments  interfere 
by  laws  (which  while  they  exist  it  is  our  duty  to  obey) 
to  obstruct  such  exchange,  they  arrogate  to  themselves 
authority  greater  than  that  assumed  by  the  Creator,  and 
do  an  injury,  moral  as  well  as  physical,  to  all  who  are 
subject  to  such  laws. 

249.  Property,  as  you  have  before  seen,  originates  in 
three   acts:    labor,  self-denial,  and  exchange.     A  law 
which  should  forbid  men  to  labor,  or  limit  their  right 
to  labor  except  in  prescribed  ways  and  hours,  ought  to 
be  resisted  by  all  sensible  men  as  an  unjust  interference. 


OF  COMMERCE.  119 

A  law  which  should  limit  the  right  of  self-denial — or 
compel  me  to  spend  my  accumulations  as  fast  as  I  cre- 
ated them,  would  be  no  less  unjust  and  monstrous.  But 
a  law  which  interferes  with  my  right  to  exchange  my 
surplus  where  I  like  is  only  more  endurable  to  us  be- 
cause we  are  accustomed  to  it.  It  does  not  differ  in 
principle ;  and  how  potent  custom  is  in  making  us  toler- 
ant of  unjust  laws  we  already  see  in  the  ease  with  which 
men  submit  to  trades-union  regulations  limiting  the  du- 
ration and  the  manner  of  men's  laboring. 

250.  Nor  is  it  strange  that  the  trades-unions,  who  in- 
terfere with  the  right  of  a  man  to  labor  when,  where,  or 
how  he  likes,  favor  also  the  enactment  of  laws  unjust- 
ly and  in  a  partial  manner  impeding  the  exchange  of 
products  or  commerce.     Their  course,  in  this  respect,  is 
logical.    They  abhor  abundance,  and  make  scarcity  their 
god. 

251.  The  most  magnificent  and  conclusive  example  of 
the  benefits  of  unobstructed  commerce  is  afforded  by 
our  own  country.    The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
provides  carefully  for  the  most  entire  and  unobstructed 
freedom  in  the  interchange  of  products  over  the  greater 
and  the  most  fertile  part  of  the  American  continent, 
and  among  thirty-seven  different  political  communities; 
and  no  one  doubts  that  it  is  to  this  absolute  freedom  of 
exchange,  guarded  with  the  utmost  jealousy  against  ev- 
ery exaction  and  interference,  that  we  owe  our  wonder- 
ful advance  in  wealth,  as  well  as  in  the.  ingenuity  and 
intelligence  of  our  people.     Consider  what  must  have 
been  our  condition  had  Virginia  been  allowed  to  lay 
restrictions  and  penalties  on  commercial  intercourse  with 
Pennsylvania,  or  New  York  to  interfere  with  her  citizens 


120  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

when  they  sought  to  exchange  products  with  Massachu- 
setts, or  the  North  with  the  South,  or  the  East  with  the 
West,  as  was  done  under  the  Confederation. 

252.  Yet  if  any  such  interference  is   beneficial,  it 
would  seem  to  be  more  necessary  to  protect  the  West 
against  New  England  than  against  Europe ;  or  the  South 
against  the  North  than  against  England  and  France. 
For,  the  plea  for  such  interference  being  that  it  is  nec- 
essary to  enable  the  establishment  of  manufactures  at 
home,  and  to  maintain  a  high  rate  of  wages,  it  is  clear 
that  Michigan  or  Georgia  manufacturers,  for  instance, 
can  be  more  easily  undersold  by  Massachusetts  or  New 
York  than  by  English  or  German  manufacturers,  who 
must  carry  their  goods  so  much  farther  to  market,  and 
must  also  draw  their  raw  materials  from  a  greater  dis- 
tance; and  an  iron-master  in  Indiana  or  Missouri  would 
feel  the  competition  of  his  Pennsylvania  or  New  Jersey 
rival  far  more  keenly  than  that  of  an  Englishman,  who 
must  send  his  iron  three  thousand  miles  farther  to  mar- 
ket.    Yet  the  Western   and   Southern   manufacturers 
make  no  complaint  of  such  home  competition. 

253.  The  Southern  leaders  were  more  logical.     They 
wished  to  destroy  the  Union  because  they  imagined  that 
thus  they  could  set  up  home  manufactures  in  the  South- 
ern States ;  and  their  attempt  was  really,  and  in  many 
cases  avowedly,  a  protectionist  measure ;  an  intentional 
and  deliberate  interference  with  the  free  exchange  of 
products. 

254.  You  must  understand,  however,  that  the  people 
of  the  United  States  have  long  and  deliberately  consent- 
ed to  a  policy  in  regard  to  external  commerce  which  I 
have  shown  you  to  be  injurious  to  the  general  welfare. 


OF  COMMERCE.  121 

No  political  party  is  yet  united  in  demanding  that  the 
people  shall  be  guaranteed  the  right  of  free  exchange. 
Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  Congress  has  power  to 
lay  duties  discriminating  in  favor  of  some  branches  of 
industry  —  and  of  course  against  others  ;  •  for  it  is  the 
essence  of  such  discrimination  that  it  shall  injure  some 
in  order  to  benefit  others.  This  is  one  of  the  great  bat- 
tle-grounds of  opinion  in  the  United  States;  and  as 
many  large  individual  interests  are  arranged  in  favor 
of  such  discrimination,  and  as  the  masses  who  are  in- 
jured have  not  the  means  for  as  compact  an  organiza- 
tion as  the  few  whom  self-interest  guides,  it  is  probable 
that  we  shall  see  protective  tariffs  for  many  years  cum- 
bering our  statute-books,  and  lessening  the  general  pros- 
perity. 

255.  When  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  most  states- 
men still  believed  that  a  country  needed  such  interfer- 
ence with  the  free  exchange  of  products,  to  enable  the 
establishment  of  home  manufactures ;  hence  the  power 
given  to  Congress  to  "  regulate  commerce,"  which  un- 
doubtedly means  and  has  always  been  held  to  imply  the 
power  to  interfere  with  exchange,  not  merely  for  pur- 
poses of  revenue,  but  for  the  object  of  "  protecting,"  as 
it  is  called,  home  manufacturers.     The  first  tariff  or 
scale  of  external  duties  enacted  by  Congress  had  this 
object  in  view;  and  though  unjust,  partial,  and  impolitic, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  Congress  has  the  constitutional 
right  thus  to  derange  industry  by  partial  laws. 

256.  One  plea  on  which  protective  tariffs, as  such  inter- 
ferences are  called,  have  been  justified,  is  that  thus  only 
can  we  have  diversified  industries.     If  this  were  true,  it 
would  really  justify  the  protectionist  system — for  diver- 

F 


122  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

sified  industries  are  a  great  benefit  to  a  nation.  But  in 
the  next  section  I  shall  show  you  that  so  far  from  favor- 
ing a  diversity  of  industries,  protective  tariffs  have  really, 
in  our  country,  discouraged  and  destroyed  many  small 
industries,  and  created  a  powerful  and  to  the  people  ir- 
resistible tendency  of  both  capital  and  labor  toward  a 
few  great  industries. 


OF  DIVERSITY  OF  INDUSTRIES.  123 


XXVI. 

OF  DIVERSITY  OF  INDUS TRIES. 

257.  That  nation  or  people  is  happiest  which  has  the 
most  widely  diversified  industries ;  because  its  members 
will  be  led  inevitably  to  the  exercise  of  great  and  varied 
ingenuity  and  enterprise,  while  at  the  same  time  capital, 
the  fruit  and  reward  of  labor,  will  be  more  equally  dis- 
tributed among  the  population  than  in  a  country  where 
but  a  few  industries  are  pursued. 

258.  Take,  for  instance,  a  region  devoted  to  grazing, 
or  to  the  cultivation  of  cotton  only,  and  you  will  find 
the  mass  of  the  people  dull  and  subordinate,  and  the 
wealth  in  few  hands.     In  like  manner  examine  a  dis- 
trict devoted  mainly  to  the  production  of  crude  iron, 
coal,  or  cotton  fabrics,  and  you  will  find  the  mass  of  the 
people  subordinate,  in  poor  circumstances,  comparatively 
ignorant  and  unenterprising,  and  not  ingenious,  while 
the  greater  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  community  is  con- 
centrated in  a  few  hands. 

259.  But  find  a  district  where  the  people  are  engaged 
in  a  multitude  of  small  industries,  and  you  are  sure  to 
find  wealth  more  equally  divided,  comfort  more  widely 
diffused,  and  the  people  more  enterprising,  intelligent, 
ingenious,  and  independent. 

260.  To  contrive  a  system  of  laws,  therefore,  whose 
tendency  and  effect  would  be  to  draw  large  numbers 
from  the  smaller  industries  which  they  would  naturally 


124  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

pursue,  and  concentrate  their  labors  upon  a  single  pur- 
suit, would  be  to  degrade  the  character  of  such  a  popu- 
lation, by  making  it  less  ingenious,  enterprising,  and  in- 
dependent than  before ;  and  this  the  more  if  this  single 
industry  should  be  of  a  kind  which  required,  in  the  mass 
of  those  engaged  in  it,  but  little  skill  or  thought,  and  at 
the  same  time  required  that  much  capital  should  be  de- 
voted to  it.  For  in  that  case  not  only  would  the  charac- 
ter of  the  people  deteriorate,  but  wealth  would  more  and 
more  be  drawn  away  from  the  smaller  industries,  and 
concentrated  in  the  larger,  and  the  mass  of  the  people 
would  become  in  time  less  prosperous  and  comfortable. 

261.  Now  this  grave  injury  has  been  done  to  large 
classes  of  our  population  by  what  is  wrongly  called  the 
system  of  "Protection  to  Home  Industry"  which  is  sim- 
ply an  interference  with  the  right  of  free  exchange. 

262.  To  comprehend  how  "Protective"  laws,  so  call- 
ed, degrade  home  industry,  and  prevent  diversity  of  in- 
dustries, I  must  first  explain  to  you  the  natural  progress 
of  industry  in  any  country — that  course  which  the  Cre- 
ator has  laid  out  by  what  are  called  Natural  Laws. 

263.  When  a  new  country  begins  to  receive  popula- 
tion, men  being  scarce  and  land  abundant,  it  is  inevita- 
ble that  wise  men  will  turn  to  industries  which  require 
for  their  prosecution  the  least  amount  of  labor,  because 
the   rate   of  wages   will  be  high,  laborers  being  few. 
Hence  in  our  new  territories  grazing  is  at  first  a  favor- 
ite and  profitable  occupation.     As  population  increases, 
lands  rise  in  price,  and  farming  is  begun ;  and  presently 
villages  make  their  appearance,  where  blacksmiths,  car- 
penters, masons,  wagon-makers,  and  shopkeepers  gather, 
to  supply  the  farmers'  needs,  and  afford  him  for  at  least 


OF  DIVERSITY  OF  INDUSTRIES.  125 

a  part  of  his  surplus  products  a  near  market.  Capital 
or  surplus  rapidly  increases  in  a  new  country ;  as  popu- 
lation continues  to  stream  in,  new  industries  are  devised, 
and  the  region  which  at  first  imported  every  thing  ex- 
cept its  meat  becomes  more  and  more  self-sustaining; 
for  capital,  intelligently  directed,  spies  out  the  wants  of 
the  people  and  the  natural  resources  and  advantages  of 
the  land  ;  and  it  is  not  long  before  even  some  articles 
of  manufacture  begin  to  be  exported  to  neighboring 
districts. 

264.  By  this  time  roads  and  perhaps  railroads  have 
been  built,  and,  by  lessening  the  cost  of  transportation 
and  increasing  production,  the  cost  of  living  has  been 
greatly  cheapened ;  new  enterprises  no  longer  offer  such 
great  rewards  as  at  first  to  capital,  and  the  rate  of  inter- 
est has  consequently  fallen ;  increasing  population  has 
lowered  the  rate  of  wages — without,  however,  necessarily 
lessening  the  comfort  of  the  laborers,  for  all  prices  are 
also  less,  as  you  have  seen.     Finally,  there  is  a  numer- 
ous class  of  hired  laborers,  whereas  in  the  beginning  al- 
most every  man  was  his  own  employer.     At  this  stage 
what  we  call  manufactures  naturally  arise.      Capital, 
seeking  new  means  of  profitable  employment,  provides 
machinery,  raw  material,  and  wages,  for  the  use  of  labor- 
ers also  seeking  new  ways  to  earn  a  living. 

265.  This  is  the  natural  course  of  a  country's  indus- 
tries where  arbitrary  and  partial  laws  are  not  used  to 
force  both  capital  and  labor  out  of  the  channels  Nature 
lias  provided.     In  this  natural  development  the  ingenu- 
ity and  enterprise  of  the  people  have  constant  exercise ; 
capital  is  for  a  long  time  pretty  equally  diffused,  be- 
cause there  will  be  a  great  and  increasing  diversity  of 


126  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

small  industries ;  the  character  of  the  population  will  be 
high,  its  independence  great,  and  prosperity  will  be  gen- 
eral. The  greater  operations  of  industry,  which  require 
extreme  concentration  of  both  capital  and  labor,  will 
be  long  deferred,  until  at  last  the  country's  natural  re- 
sources are  fully  explored,  and  the  accumulation  of 
wealth  and  the  increase  of  population  are  both  so  great 
as  to  lead  naturally  and  safely  to  such  employment  for 
both.  The  stages  of  development  in  such  a  case  will  be 
slow,  but  sure,  and  there  will  be  no  great  crisis  or  pan- 
ic, nor  any  marked  lowering  of  the  condition  of  the 
people.  Their  ingenuity  and  desire  for  prosperity  would 
lead  them  to  devise  new  industries  and  control  new  en- 
terprises as  fast  as  capital  and  labor  offered  to  prose- 
cute them ;  and  it  is  an  important  consideration  that 
these  new  enterprises  would  grow  naturally  out  of  the 
conditions  of  the  country,  as  to  climate  and  productions, 
and  the  wants  of  the  people. 

266.  Unfortunately  this  natural  and  sound  growth  is 
not  permitted.  Different  motives,  among  which  are  na- 
tional pride,  a  desire  for  more  showy  production,  the 
subtle  fallacy  of  a  "  home  market,"  so  called,  but  main- 
ly the  greed  for  wealth  and  supremacy  in  individuals, 
unite  to  bring  about  the  adoption  of  unjust  and  partial 
laws,  enacted  to  favor  some  special  branch  of  industry. 
These  laws,  under  the  beguiling  name  of  "  Protection  to 
Home  Industry,"  lay  heavy  duties  on  a  few  foreign  prod- 
ucts, in  order  to  enable  those  who  produce  these  articles 
at  home  to  charge  a  higher  price  for  them,  and  to  give 
them  the  command  of  the  home  market — which  means 
only,  as  must  be  plain  to  you,  to  compel  the  mass  of  the 
people  to  buy  of  the  favored  individuals  at  a  higher 


OF  DIVERSITY    OF  INDUSTRIES.  127 

price  than  they  could,  but  for  these  laws,  buy  for  else- 
where ;  in  other  words,  to  impede  the  free  exchange  of 
products. 

267.  For  instance,  New  England  capitalists — helped, 
I  believe,  originally  by  some  Southern  men — began  to 
clamor  for  duties  on  foreign-made  cotton  goods ;  and, 
contrary  to  the  wish  of  the  first  promoters  of  cotton  man- 
ufactures, a  high  duty  was  put  on  the  importation  of  for- 
eign calicoes,  sheetings,  and  other  manufactures  of  cotton. 

268.  Of  course,  a  duty  on  the  foreign  product  is  a 
bounty  on  the  home  product.     The  home  manufacturer 
raises  his  price  to  the  price  at  which  the  foreigner  can 
sell  after  he  has  paid  the  duty.      A  duty  on  calicoes, 
therefore,  confessedly  makes  calico — the  home  as  well  as 
the  foreign  product — dearer  than  it  would  otherwise  be ; 
and  all  who  wear  calico — all  the  women  and  children 
in  the  land,  that  is  to  say  —  mnst  pay  more  for  their 
dresses,  in  order  that  the  insignificant  number  engaged 
in  making  calicoes  at  home  shall  obtain  their  bounty. 

269.  Now  it  has  never  been  pretended  that  the  people 
of  New  England  were  starving  when  a  duty  was  laid 
on  calicoes  and  other  cotton  goods.     They  were,  accord- 
ing to  all  accounts,  an  extremely  industrious  and  inge- 
nious people,  engaged  in  such  a  multitude  of  small  en- 
terprises that  "Yankee  Notions"  was  the  generic  name 
of  a  great  class  of  small  inventions  and  products,  all  use- 
ful to  mankind.     Capital  was  widely  dispersed  in  these 
petty  industries,  for  which  the  character  of  the  country 
and  its  inhabitants  was  well  fitted  ;  large  fortunes  were 
few,  and  not  easily  accumulated,  but  the  average  of  com- 
fort, intelligence,  and  public  spirit  was  uncommonly  high. 

270.  The  effect  of  the  protective  duty  was,  1st,  by 


128  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

offering  an  unnaturally  high  reward  to  capital,  to  draw 
that  away  from  a  number  of  the  smaller  industries,  and 
concentrate  it  in  a  few  great  buildings  filled  with  costly 
machinery.  2d.  To  draw  away  a  large  part  of  the  la- 
boring population  from  their  petty  industries  and  their 
country  homes  into  large  manufacturing  towns,  and  to 
employments  which  made  them  more  dependent  and  less 
ingenious  and  self-helpful  than  before. 

271.  The  life  of  a  mill  or  factory  operative  being  of 
a  low  kind,  offering  no  hopes  of  advancement,  and  a 
smaller  average  of  comfort  than  intelligent  and  enter- 
prising people  like  to  submit  to,  the  best  class  of  the  New 
England  population  presently  withdrew  from  it,  or  nev- 
er entered  it ;  but  capital — then  not  superabundant  in 
the  country — having  been  diverted  to  manufacturing  on 
a  great  scale  by  the  "protective"  duty,  was  made  less 
abundant  for  small  enterprises.    The  temptation  of  cheap 
and  fertile  lands  drew  off  the  most  enterprising  popula- 
tion to  the  Western  States ;  and  the  Yankee  girls  left  the 
factories  to  fill  the  vacant  places  of  the  emigrants. 

272.  The  manufacturers,  to  fill  the  gap,  began  system- 
atically to  import  foreigners,  mostly  of  a  low  grade  of 
intelligence,  and  have  continued  to  do  this  to  the  present 
time ;  with  results  evident  to  the  country  in  a  gradual 
but  serious  deterioration  in  the  character  of  the  popu- 
lation, the  corruption  of  politics,  the  increase  of  vice, 
crime,  and  ignorance. 

273.  To  bring  about  these  evils  the  women  and  chil- 
dren of  the  whole  United  States  were  compelled  to  pay 
tribute,  during  a  great  many  years,  every  time  they 
bought  a  new  calico  dress  or  a  yard  of  muslin.     Mean- 
time this  "protection  to  home  industry,"  or  favoritism 


OF  DIVERSITY  OF   INDUSTRIES.  129 

to  a  few  at  the  cost  of  the  great  mass,  has  built  up  a 
few  very  great  fortunes,  and  a  large  population,  subject, 
ignorant,  to  a  large  extent  the  easy  prey  of  demagogues, 
and  in  every  way  inferior  to  that  it  superseded  ;  the 
average  of  comfort  and  prosperity  in  New  England  is 
much  lower  than  it  was  before  "Protection;"  and  pau- 
perism has  greatly  increased. 

274:.  You  see  here  that  "  Protection  to  Home  Indus- 
try" was  a  curse  to  people  who  were  "protected,"  at 
the  same  time  that  it  was  unjust  to  that  great  mass  of 
the  population  which,  not  being  engaged  in  cotton  man- 
ufactures, was  not  "  protected,"  but  had  to  pay,  in  high- 
er prices  for  clothing,  the  cost  of  protection  to  a  few. 

275.  Take  now  another  case,  where  an  attempt  was 
made  to  "protect"  both  the  producers  of  a  raw  material 
and  its  manufacturers — of  course  once  more  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  who  are  consum- 
ers.    The   wool-growers   and   the    wool  manufacturers 
combined  to  appeal  to  Congress  for  "  protection,"  and 
"encouragement  for  their  home  industries;"  and  their 
demands  were  granted.     Naturally  both  American  wool 
and  American  woolen  goods  immediately  rose  in  price 
— that  was  the  object  of  the  men  who  asked  for  the 
high   duties.     Woolen  shirts,  trousers,  coats,  blankets, 
carpets,  all  cost  all  of  us  more,  in  order  that  these  two 
home  industries  might  be  favored. 

276.  The   exclusion    of   foreign    wool    and   woolens 
caused,  1st,  a  rapid  and  great  increase  in  the  production 
of  American  wool,  but  also  in  the  price  of  mutton — for 
the  farmers,  sure  of  a  high  price  for  wool,  would  not  sell 
so  many  sheep  to  the  butchers  as  before.     But  mutton, 
too,  is  an  article  of  universal  consumption.     2d.  The 

F  2 


130  POLITICS   FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

high  duty  caused  the  establishment  of  a  large  number 
of  woolen  mills,  with  expensive  machinery,  to  build  and 
work  which  capital  was  drawn  from  other  industries 
where  it  was  before  usefully  employed.  At  the  same 
time  people  were  drawn  from  farms  and  other  employ- 
ments into  the  woolen  mills.  Thus,  as  in  New  England 
in  the  previous  case,  industry  was  in  a  double  way  de- 
ranged. 

277.  But  hardly  had  all  the  wool-growers  and  woolen 
manufacturers  got  fairly  to  work  when  it  was  discover- 
ed that  the  exclusion  of '  foreign-grown  wool  from  so 
large  a  market  as  the  United  States  had  made  it  so 
cheap  in  Europe  that  manufacturers  there  could  still 
sell  their  goods  here,  after  paying  the  high  duty,  in  com- 
petition with  ours  in  our  own  market.     Then  followed 
a  demand  for  still  higher  duties  on  the  foreign  goods. 

278.  But  this  additional  protection  for  themselves  en- 
abled our  manufacturers  to  import  some  foreign  wools ; 
whereupon  the  wool-growers  began  to  clamor :  they  had 
greatly  increased  the  product  of  wool — for  sheep  breed 
rapidly;  and  as  many  had  paid  high  prices  for  sheep, 
and  for  fine  bucks,  they  did  not  like  to  lose  the  benefit 
of  protection. 

279.  But  it  was  reasonably  urged  by  manufacturers 
that  to  exclude  foreign  wools  entirely  was  to  confine  our 
manufacturers  to  making  but  few  varieties  of  goods,  and 
those  not  the  most  profitable,  because  for  most  kinds  of 
goods  the  manufacturer  needs  to  mix  in  the  looms  the 
wools  of  different  climates  and  countries.     Hence  the 
exclusion  of  foreign  wool,  and  an  overstocked  market 
in  some  kinds  of  goods,  caused  the  stoppage  of  many 
factories,  a  general  stagnation  of  the  business — under  the 


OF  DIVERSITY  OF  INDUSTRIES. 

high  duties,  remember — consequent  fall  in  the  demand 
for  American  wool,  and  prostration  of  the  protected 
wool-growers ;  all  to  the  advantage  of  only  a  few  wealthy 
and  cautions  manufacturers,  who  happened  to  be  able  to 
take  advantage  of  the  low  prices. 

280.  Here  was  a  loss  to  farmers,  manufacturers,  and 
operatives  by  "protection."     Nor  was  this  all.     Ma- 
chinery lives  though  men  die.     If  it  stands  idle,  it  dete- 
riorates ;  new  inventions  supersede  it  by  and  by ;  and  if 
it  has  stood  idle,  it  has  not  earned  the  cost  of  replace- 
ment:  hence  actual  loss  of  much  capital.     As  to  the 
workmen,  drawn  away  from  other  and  more  healthful 
employments,  and  made  more  dependent  than  formerly, 
many  were  now  turned  adrift. 

281.  To  achieve  these  miserable  results — to  cause  loss 
to  the  farmers  as  well  as  to  the  manufacturers  and  their 
laborers,  to  derange  an  important  industry,  and  benefit 
only  a  few  speculators  who  were  ready  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  general  loss — the  whole  American  people 
were  obliged  by  a  partial  and  unjust  law  to  pay  during 
several  years  needlessly  high  prices  for  coats,  trousers, 
blankets,  carpets,  flannels,  and  woolen  dresses. 

282.  Take  yet  another  example,  differing  from  the 
foregoing — the  manufacture  of  crude  and  rolled  iron, 
which  includes  pig  and  railroad  and  other  bars.     Laws 
placing  a  penalty  on  the  use  of  foreign  iron  have  existed 
on  our  statute-books  for  a  great  number  of  years;  they 
were  adopted  on  the  pica  that  we  possessed  rich  ores 
and  abundant  coal  and  limestone ;  and  that  we  could 
not  safely  be  dependent  on  foreign  nations  for  so  nec- 
essary an  article  as  iron,  because  we  might  in  such  a 
case  be  very  seriously  inconvenienced  in  the  case  of 


132  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

war.  I  hope  you  are  logician  enough  to  see  the  fallacy 
in  this  proposition — it  lies  in  the  implication  that  with- 
out a  penalty  on  the  use  of  foreign  iron,  and  a  conse- 
quent bounty  to  the  home  manufacturer,  no  American 
would  have  engaged  in  this  industry.  But  if,  as  is  most 
true,  we  have  abundant  supplies  of  excellent  ores,  fuel, 
and  fluxes — that  is  to  say,  if  Nature  has  put  us  into  an 
uncommonly  advantageous  position  for  making  iron, 
surely  it  is  too  much  to  say  that  we  could  not  or  would 
not  use  these  natural  advantages  without  an  additional 
bounty  from  the  government. 

283.  The  "protective"  bounty,  however,  caused  a 
rapid  flow  of  capital  and  labor  from  various  other  in- 
dustries to  this  crude  pursuit — one  of  the  lowest  of  all, 
the  least  elevating  to  those  engaged  in  it.  The  capital 
and  labor  were  diverted  from  industries  naturally  more 
productive,  and  this  of  course  put  a  serious  loss  upon 
the  general  community ;  because  thus  less  aggregate 
wealth  was  produced,  and  the  means  of  exchange  were 
lessened.  But,  further,  the  hope  of  extraordinary  gains 
from  protection — which  promised  the  iron-master  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  home  market — led  men  to  rash  ventures. 
Many  placed  their  iron-furnaces  badly,  so  that  they  la- 
bored under  natural  disadvantages,  and  needed  protection, 
in  fact,  not  from  European  iron-masters,  but  from  their 
more  judicious  neighbors.  I  have  been  told  by  several 
iron-masters  that  the  furnace  of  the  late  Thaddeus  Ste- 
vens of  Pennsylvania  was  thus  misplaced,  and  that  when 
he  constantly  appealed  for  a  higher  duty  on  foreign 
iron,  for  more,  and  more,  and  more  "protection,"  he 
spoke  from  his  own  experience,  and  for  his  own  neces- 
sities, and  not  those  of  the  judiciously  placed  furnaces. 


OF  DIVERSITY  OF  INDUSTRIES.  133 

284.  Another  result  of  "protection"  was  that  the 
protected  iron -masters,  even  where  the  furnaces  were 
well  placed,  often  neglected  to  apply  the  most  scientific 
methods  in  their  work.  They  had  become  accustomed 
to  depend  on  bounties  and  "  protection  "  granted  by  the 
government,  and  no  longer  used  their  brains,  as  they 
must  have  done  had  they,  like  the  shoemakers  and 
blacksmiths  and  carpenters,  the  farmers,  sewing-women, 
and  the  immense  mass  of  unprotected  laborers,  been 
obliged  to  depend  upon  their  own  ingenuity.  Mr. 
Abram  Hewitt,  of  New  Jersey,  himself  a  prominent 
iron-master  and  zealous  protectionist,  in  a  Report  on 
Iron  at  the  last  French  Exhibition,  reproached  the 
American  iron-masters  for  this  neglect,  and  pointed  out 
that  at  that  time  many  of  our  works  were  conducted  on 
methods  long  ago  abandoned  in  Europe  as  uneconomical. 
In  another  case  an  American,  visiting  an  English  man- 
ufacturer of  a  specialty  in  woolen  goods,  discovered  that, 
in  spite  of  our  high  tariff,  he  continued  to  export  his 
goods  to  the  United  States ;  and  asking  curiously  how  it 
could  be  afforded,  the  Englishman  replied  by  showing 
him  that  he  had  just  put  in  an  entire  set  of  new  and 
greatly  improved  machinery,  and  had  sold  his  old  and 
wasteful  machinery  to  a  manufacturer  in  the  United 
States — to  his  competitor,  namely,  who  depended  not 
on  ingenuity  or  cheap  means  of  production,  but  on 
"  protection,"  and  no  doubt  petitioned  Congress  for 
higher  duties  as  soon  as  lie  had  set  up  the  Englishman's 
cast-off  machines.  Protection,  you  see,  dulls  ingenuity, 
because  it  destroys  a  market  for  it.  If  an  American 
mechanic  invents  a  machine  for  saving  labor  in  a  "  pro- 
tected" industry,  he  lias  the  less  chance  to  profit  by  its 


134:  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

adoption,  because  the  capitalists  to  whom  he  offers  it 
depend  less  on  economy  or  ingenuity  than  on  the  gov- 
ernment's bounty  or  protection,  taken  out  of  the  people's 
pockets. 

285.  The  object  of  a  duty  on  foreign  iron  is,  of  course, 
to  enable  the  American  iron-master  to  charge  a  higher 
price  for  his  product.     This  addition  to  the  natural 
price  of  iron  must  be  paid  by  the  American  people,  for 
other  nations  will  not  pay  it — they  will  prefer  to  buy  in 
a  cheaper  market,  and  thus  protection  ruins  our  foreign 
commerce.     But  think  for  a  minute  what  an  addition 
to  the  price  of  iron  means.     It  means  that  the  carpen- 
ter shall  pay  more  for  liis  tools,  the  blacksmith  for  his 
horseshoes,  the  house-builder  for  his  nails,  the  house- 
keeper for  her  pots  and  kettles,  the  farmer  for  his  im- 
plements— it  means  that  houses   shall  be  dearer  and 
house-rent  higher ;  that  all  agricultural  operations  shall 
cost  more,  wherefore  bread  must  be  higher;  that  all  ma- 
chinery shall  be  more  costly,  and  therefore  all  clothing 
and  othe$  necessaries  of  life  produced  by  machinery  shall 
be  dearer  to  the  poor ;  and,  finally,  that  railroads,  which 
use  enormous  quantities  of  iron  in  rails,  locomotives,  and 
cars,  shall  be  more  costly,  and  therefore  freights  higher 
forever  to  the  farmer,  who  wants  to  get  his  produce  to 
market. 

286.  That  is  to  say,  a  duty  on  iron  takes  something 
out  of  the  pocket  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the 
United  States,  and  by  that  much  lessens  their  comfort 
and  prosperity ;  and  it  does  this,  as  you  have  seen,  to 
make  the  fortunes  of  a  comparatively  small  number  of 
capitalists  engaged  in  the  production  of  iron,  and  to 
enable  them,  according  to  Mr.  Hewitt,  to  work  with 
wasteful  means  and  processes. 


OF  DIVERSITY  OF  INDUSTRIES.  135 

287.  For  the  workmen  do  not  benefit  by  the  tariff, 
but  only  the  capitalists.     It  is  not  pretended  that  the 
high  duty  obliges  or  causes  the  iron-masters  to  pay  their 
laborers  wages  above  the  average  standard  of  wages  in 
the  country :  the  protectionists  only  claim  that  the  high 
duty  enables  the  payment  of  wages  in  the  protected  indus- 
tries equal  to  those  paid  in  the  unprotected.     But  those 
now  engaged  in  the  furnaces  and  factories,  where  they  are 
crowded  together,  and  rendered  less  intelligent,  less  in- 
genious, less  independent  than  the  average  of  their  coun- 
trymen, would,  if  there  had  been  no  iron-furnaces  at  all, 
have  been  engaged  in  other  and  more  healthful  occupa- 
tions; and  they  are  thus  injured  by  the  protective  duty, 
by  being  lured  into  the  furnaces ;  and  in  the  end  are 
left  without  employment  by  a  commercial  crisis  in  their 
trade,  caused  by  over-production,  brought  about  entire- 
ly by  the  stimulant  of  bounty  or  "protection."      The 
high  duty  on  iron  tempted  capitalists  by  the  prospect  of 
extraordinary  profits,  and  thus  caused  an  unnaturally 
rapid  expansion  of  this  business ;  with  the  result,  sure 
from  the  first,  of  a  general  paralysis,  involving  loss  of 
capital,  which  is  an  indirect  but  certain  loss  to  the  mass 
of  laborers  ;  but  also,  and  directly,  bringing  suffering  to 
the  laborers  engaged  in  the  production  of  iron,  and  to 
their  families. 

288.  You  see,  in  these  three  instances,  that — 1st.  Pro- 
tection diverts  capital  from  numerous  diversified  and 
naturally  productive  into  fewer  and  naturally  less  pro- 
ductive channels :  which  is  an  injury  to  the  mass  of  the 
people,  because  it  checks  their  enterprise  and  ingenuity. 
2d.  It  diverts  labor  in  the  same  measure — for  labor  fol- 
lows capital ;  and  it  places  the  laborer  always  in  a  more 


136  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

dependent  and  precarious  situation.  3d.  It  causes  loss 
of  capital,  which  is  a  serious  injury  to  the  country,  for 
capital  is  accumulated  wealth,  and  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant tools  for  further  increasing  wealth.  4th.  Final- 
ly, it  is  a  means  of  deranging  industry,  and  thus  sudden- 
ly throwing  great  numbers  of  men  out  of  employment. 
5th.  And  it  does  all  this  injury  in  a  most  costly  manner, 
by  a  tribute  levied  upon  the  whole  population. 

289.  I  might  exhibit  to  you  many  other  examples  of 
the  folly  and  loss  of  "  protection  "  —  as  the  high  duty 
on  foreign  salt,  which,  1st,  destroyed  some  part  of  our 
foreign  commerce,  where  our  ships  were  able  to  carry 
an  outward  cargo  cheaply  only  on  condition  of  bring- 
ing home  salt  from  Liverpool  or  the  West  Indies ;  and, 
2d,  actually  enabled  a  combination  of  salt  monopolists, 
two  or  three  great  companies,  to  close  some  of  the  more 
important  of  our  own  salt-works,  and  thus  lessen  the 
supply  to  the  American  people.    I  saw  myself,  two  years 
ago,  the  great  West  Virginia  Salt-works  standing  idle, 
and  when  I  asked  the  reason,  was  informed  that  the 
owners  were  hired  by  the  Associated  Salt-Producers  to 
close  their  works  (and  of  course  to  discharge  all  their 
workmen).     This  is  called  "  Protection  to  Home  Indus- 
try." 

290.  Again,  a  high  duty  was  laid  on  foreign  lumber  and 
timber ;  with  the  result,  1st,  of  breaking  up  an  important 
trade  in  finished  lumber  which  our  merchants  had  es- 
tablished with  Australia  and  the  West  Indies,  but  which 
was  driven  to  Canada  by  the  tariff  which  made  lumber 
dear  here ;  2d,  making  all  houses  dearer,  and  house-rents 
higher  for  the  laboring  men  and  their  families ;  and,  3d, 
causing  the  needless  destruction  of  our  own  forests,  which 


OF  DIVERSITY  OF  INDUSTRIES.  137 

we  ought  much  rather  to  have  preserved  with  great  care, 
so  long  as  our  neighbors  would  sell  us  theirs. 

291.  I  hope  it  is  plain  to  you  that  all  obstacles  to  the 
exchange  of  products  are  injurious ;  and  that  as  God 
allows  and  incites  us  to  use  our  utmost  ingenuity  to 
lessen  and  overcome  those  natural  obstacles  which  he 
has  placed,  so  it  is  the  most  egregious  folly  in  us  to  add 
artificial  ones.     In  doing  so,  we  inevitably  sink  capital 
or  accumulated  wealth,  and  expose  the  laboring  part  of 
the  population  to  undue  hazards,  losses,  and  suffering. 

292.  Yet  trades-unions  and  labor  societies  encourage 
this  system,  miscalled  "  protection,"  and  thus  show  once 
more  the  folly  which  rales  them,  their  ignorance  of  nat- 
ural laws,  and  their  unn'tness  to  undertake  the  control 
of  labor. 

293.  For,  bear  in  mind  that — 1st.  If  there  had  never 
been  an  iron-furnace,  a  cotton  or  woolen  mill,  in  the 
whole  United  States,  our  population  would  still  have 
been  fully  employed,  and  at  good  wages.    For  our  coun- 
try is  but  thinly  populated,  and  with  unobstructed  pro- 
duction and  exchange  there  will  be  for  a  century  to 
come  a  dozen  days'  work  for  every  man  ready  to  labor 
a  day.     2d.  Without  "  protection  "  we  might  have  had 
fewer  cotton  and  woolen  mills  and  iron-furnaces,  but  we 
should  have  had  a  far  more  diversified  industry;  a  more 
general  and  equal  distribution  of  wealth ;  more  numer- 
ous opportunities  for  enterprising  men  of  small  means  to 
use  their  inventive  skill  in  small  businesses;  and  hence 
greater  independence,  and  with  this  a  higher  average  of 
general  intelligence,  thrift,  and  comfort  than  we  have. 

294.  Protection  drew  our  capital  and  labor  into  un- 
dertakings which  were  not  naturally  profitable  (for  else 


138  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

there  would  have  been  no  reason  for  protection) ;  hence 
loss  of  capital  or  wealth — a  lessening  of  the  total  amount 
of  accumulated  savings  in  the  nation.  But,  as  I  showed 
you  under  the  head  of  Property,  every  loss  of  capital  is 
an  injury  primarily  to  the  mass  of  those  who  labor  for 
wages ;  secondarily  to  the  whole  community. 

295.  Moreover,  protection,  by   offering   the    special 
temptation  of  a  bounty  to  a  few  industries,  and  these  of 
kinds  in  which  the  laborers  are  on  the  whole  least  bene- 
fited and  made  most  helpless,  exposes  these  industries  to 
over-production,  and  thus  causes  commercial  revulsions, 
stagnation  in  trade,  and  general  loss,  with  particular  suf- 
fering to  the  laborers  in  the  protected  industries,  who 
are  at  such  times  thrown  out  of  employment ;  and  a 
general  derangement  of  wages  in  all  employments. 

296.  I  have  told  you  before  that  no  'merely  selfish 
policy  can  in  the  long  run  prosper.    God  did  not  make 
the  world  so.    Unselfishness  is  as  much  a  natural  law  as 
the  law  of  gravitation  ;  and  he  who  seeks  to  benefit 
himself  by  injuring  others  strives  against  nature,  and 
though  he  may  succeed  in  his  direct  purpose,  is  sure  in 
some  other  wray  to  sustain  greater  injury.     And  what  is 
thus  true  of  individuals  is  still  more  true  of  nations, 
which,  as  their  life  extends  beyond  that  of  individuals, 
are  very  certain  to  reap  as  they  sow. 


OF  STRIKES.  139 


XXVII. 

OF  STRIKES. 

297.  When  laborers  for  wages  make  a  demand  upon 
their  employer,  accompanied  with  a  threat  that  if  he  re- 
fuses they  will  leave  him,  they  are  said  to  "  strike." 

298.  Of  course,  every  workman  has  a  right  to  make 
his  own  terms  with  his  employer ;  and  it  can  make  no 
difference — so  far  as  right  goes — whether  he  acts  singly 
or  whether  he  joins  a  number,  great  or  small,  of  his  fel- 
low-laborers in  arranging  or  rearranging  these  terms. 
All  laws  having  for  their  object  the  prevention  of  such 
combinations  and  strikes  are  therefore  unjust  and  op- 
pressive.    Every  man  has  an  inalienable  right  to  seek  to 
better  his  condition,  and  the  means  he  uses  for  that  end 
lie  within  his  discretion,  saving  only,  of  course,  that  he 
must  keep  the  peace.     As  a  workman  has  no  defense 
against  an  oppressive  employer  except  the  threat  to 
leave  him,  it  is  the  extreme  of  injustice  to  deprive  him 
of  that. 

299.  His  strike  may  bring  loss  and  inconvenience  not 
only  upon  his  employer,  but  upon  the  general  communi- 
ty :  that  does  not  lessen  his  right  to  strike,  or  to  com- 
bine with  others  in  a  strike.     It  may  be  unwise,  and 
bring  suffering  upon  him  and  his  associates  and  their 
families  :  that,  too,  does  not  impair  his  right.     In  short, 
when  a  laborer  strikes,  he  exercises  only  the  liberty  of 
deciding  to  whom  and  on  what  terms  he  will  give  his 


14:0  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

labor  ;  and  to  interfere  with  that  right  would  be  to  take 
away  his  freedom  and  make  him  a  slave. 

300.  But  the  rights  he  has  and  uses  he  must  allow  to 
others  ;  and  the  striker  has  no  right  to  coerce  any  other 
working-man  to  join  him :  when  he  does  that,  he  becomes 
a  criminal  of  a  very  grave  kind,  for  his  wrong  affects  the 
rights  of  all  working-men.     If  it  were  granted  that  a 
striker  might  rightfully  force  another  workman  to  join 
him,  he  would  thereby  give  up  his  own  rights  and  liber- 
ties ;  for  clearly,  if  he  may  abridge  the  freedom  of  an- 
other, somebody  else,  by  the  same  right,  may  lessen  his. 
If  you  have  a  right  to  force  me  not  to  work,  another 
may  by  the  same  right  force  you  to  work.     The  striker 
therefore  commits  the  grossest  and  most  absurd  tyranny 
when  he  interferes  to  force  some  other  man  to  cease 
work.     We  see   such  attempts  made  in  this   country 
occasionally,  but  usually  only  by  the  most  ignorant  of 
our  laborers ;  every  interference  of  the  kind  ought  to 
be  severely  and  sternly  punished,  as  a  dangerous  attack 
upon  society. 

301.  In  our  times  strikes  usually  take  place  upon  a 
great   scale.      The    organization   of  trades-unions    has 
brought  hired  laborers  into  close  connection,  and  en- 
abled them  to  act  in  large  masses  for  various  purposes. 
Hence  we  have  seen,  in  this  country,  strikes  in  which 
thousands  of  men  were  united ;  and  in  England,  where 
the  trades-unions  are  more  powerful  and  compact  or- 
ganizations than  here,  it  has  happened  that  a  general 
strike  of  the  laborers  in  one  industry  was  supported  by 
those  engaged  in  others,  out  of  a  general  fund  of  their 
societies.     In  all  this  the  workmen  were  exercising  only 
the  inalienable  right  of  determining  for  whom  and  on 


OF  STRIKES. 

what  terms  they  would  labor ;  and  so  long  as  they  did 
not  attempt  to  force  unwilling  laborers  to  join  them,  and 
did  not  otherwise  break  the  peace,  interference  with 
them  would  have  been  the  grossest  injustice. 

302.  Whether  strikes  have  or  have  not  on  the  whole 
benefited  the  workmen  is  a  question  on  which  political 
economists  differ,  and  which  it  is  not  easy  to  decide  upon 
facts.     My  own  belief  is  that  strikes,  as  they  are  con- 
ducted, have  dorre  no  lasting  good  to  the  strikers  or  to 
the  mass  of  laborers,  but,  on  the  contrary,  have  injured 
them.     Take,  for  instance,  an  industry  which  yields  di- 
rect employment  to  ten  thousand  men ;  and  suppose 
them  to  unite  in  a  strike :  while  they  stand  out,  they  are 
not  only  consuming  their  savings — or  those  of  other 
workmen  who  support  them — and  are  thus  the  poorer; 
but  also  they  are  idle,  and  are  tempted  to  form  bad  hab- 
its.   Idleness  itself  is  a  very  bad  habit.    If  they  succeed, 
the  increased  rate  of  wages  which  they  have  compelled 
will  not  probably  for  a  long  time  to  come  restore  to  them 
their  former  savings  and  comforts.    Meantime,  however, 
it  is  probable  that  other  persons  have  been  drawn  into 
their  industry,  and  thus  by  their  own  act  the  number  of 
persons  seeking  their  bread  by  this  industry  has  been  in- 
creased, and  in  the  nature  of  things  the  demand  for 
wages  is  greater,  proportioned  to  the  capital  available 
for  wages,  than  before  ;  and  either  wages  will  presently 
fall  again,  or  some  part  of  the  laborers  will  be  thrown 
out  of  employment. 

303.  Trades-unions  have  apparently  sought  to  prevent 
this  natural  consequence  by  arbitrary  and  tyrannical 
regulations  concerning  the  employment  of  apprentices 
and  6f  non-unionists ;  and  by  attempts  to  shorten  the 


142  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

hours  of  labor,  winch  is  of  course  only  an  indirect  way 
of  increasing  the  rate  of  wages.  Also  they  have  en- 
deavored to  "  make  work "  by  forbidding  men  to  do 
more  than  a  certain  amount  of  work  in  a  given  time. 
All  these  are  deplorably  rude  and  temporary  expedients, 
the  contrivance  of  men  ignorant  of  natural  laws,  and, 
what  is  even  more  mischievous,  flying  in  the  face  of  the 
golden  rule.  To  forbid  a  boy  to  learn  a  trade  which  he 
desires,  to  prohibit  the  employment  of  non-unionists, 
are  acts  of  pure  selfishness ;  and  the  whole  spirit  of  the 
trades-unions  in  this  matter  is  one  which  seeks  to  mo- 
nopolize benefits  at  the  expense  of  other  men.  But,  as  I 
told  you  before,  nothing  is  truer,  or  more  plainly  proved 
by  the  whole  experience  of  society,  than  that  no  merely 
selfish  policy  can  achieve  a  great  or  lasting  success.  God 
did  not  make  the  world  so. 

304.  When  wages  are  permanently  too  low  in  any  well- 
established  industry,  that  means  that  too  many  persons 
are  seeking  to  share  in  the  gross  returns  of  that  industry. 
The  remedy  lies  in  either  increasing  the  demand  for  the 
goods,  which  means  widening  the  market  for  them,  which 
can  be  done  only  by  an  extension  of  commerce,  when 
more  capital  would  be  profitably  invested  in  the  indus- 
try ;  or  in  decreasing  the  number  of  persons  desiring 
employment  in  it.  Now  a  strike  certainly  does  not 
widen  the  market  for  goods ;  it  does  not  extend  com- 
merce, which  is  the  only  way  to  permanently  increase 
demand ;  and,  by  alarming  capital,  is  far  more  likely  to 
decrease  than  to  increase  the  proportion  used  in  the  giv- 
en industry ;  and  by  stopping  work  it  checks  the  accumu- 
lation of  that  which  is  already  in  vested.  But  it  does 
.not  decrease  the  amount  of  labor  offering  —  for  the 


OF  STRIKES.  143 

strikers  simply  stand  idle,  and  mean  to  re-enter  the  same 
industry  as  soon  as  the  contest  between  them  and  their 
employers  is  decided ;  as  soon,  that  is  to  say,  as  one  side 
or  the  other  has  suffered  all  the  loss  it  can  bear.  I  can 
not  see,  therefore,  how  the  conditions  are  changed  by 
the  strike — except  for  the  worse ;  and  a  strike  of  this 
kind  can,  I  imagine,  permanently  increase  the  prosper- 
ity of  the  workmen  just  about  as  much  as  a  man  can 
lift  himself  from  the  ground  by  a  vigorous  tug  at  his 
coat-collar. 


144  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XXVIII. 

OF  TRADES -UNIONS. 

305.  The  theory  taught  by  the  trades- union  leaders 
is  that  in  striking  the  laborers  demand  only  a  share  of 
the  profits  of  the  capitalists  who  are  -their  employers. 
Thus  they  persuade  the  working -people  that  "  capital," 
as  they  say,  is  the  enemy  of  "  labor,"  and  that  "  labor " 
can  prosper  only  by  depriving  "capital"  of  some  share 
of  its  profits:  that  one  man  can  gain  only  by  another's 
loss. 

306.  You  will  ask,  perhaps,  whether  it  is  not  true  that 
the  owners  of  capital  do  seek  to  increase  their  profits, 
even  at  the  expense  of  their  hired  laborers ;  and  whether, 
therefore,  there  is  not  a  natural  antagonism,  not  between 
capital  and  labor,  but  between  the  employer  and  his 
hired  work-people  ? 

307.  Undoubtedly  both  employer  and  employed  seek 
their  own  benefit;    and  where  the  employer  has  the 
working-men  in  his  power  he  will  seek  to  increase  his 
profits  by  lessening  their  remuneration.     This,  however, 
can  happen  only  where  the  laborers  are  slaves,  and  where 
the  master  therefore  has  a  monopoly  of  their  services. 
Where  the  workmen  are  free  and  moderately  intelligent, 
and  competition  in  business  is  unobstructed,  if  capital 
makes  abnormal  gains,  other  capital  at  once  rushes  in 
to  partake  of  these;  if  wages  are  above  the  average, 
other  laborers  rush  in  to  share  the  higher  ra.tes ;  and  in 


OF  TRADES-UNIONS.  145 

either  case  profits  or  wages,  as  the  case  may  be,  fall  to  a 
general  average. 

308.  Now  a  trades-union  seeks  to  prevent  this  natu- 
ral fall  of  wages  by  restricting  the  taking  of  apprentices 
and  the  employment  of  non-unionists ;  that  is  to  say,  by, 
so  far  as  its  members  can,  making  a  close  corporation  or 
monopoly  of  their  trade.     But  suppose  the  capitalists 
should  in  their  turn  try  to  prevent  the  extension  of  the 
industry  by  combining  to  prevent  fresh  capital  flowing 
into  it  ?     The  one  course  would  be  as  reasonable,  as  log- 
ical, and  as  vain  as  the  other. 

309.  "When  wages  in  any  industry  fall  to  a  point  too 
low  to  afford  the  laborers  engaged  in  it  a  comfortable 
subsistence,  and  with  prudence  and  economy  a  small  sur- 
plus, that  is  a  proof  that  labor  presses  too  severely  upon 
the  capital  which  can  be  profitably  employed  in  that  in- 
dustry.   Suppose  now  ten  thousand  persons  employed  in 
such  an  industry,  and  all  enrolled  in  the  trades -union. 
Their  present  course  would  be  to  strike.  Their  true  course 
would  be  to  use  the  fund  which  every  trades-union  ac- 
cumulates, to  send  surplus  members  to  a  region  where 
labor  is  better  rewarded :  that  is  to  say,  to  re-establish 
the  disturbed  equilibrium. 

310.  THERE  ARE  NO  SURPLUS  MEN  IN  THE  WORLD:  when 
any  one  appears  to  be  so,  he  is  only  in  the  wrong  place. 
Enable  him  to  go  elsewhere,  and  teach  him  that  he  shall 
if  need  be  do  something  else,  and  he  is  no  longer  sur- 
plus, but  highly  necessary  to  civilization.    More  than  one 
half  of  our  planet  still  lies  waste  and  useless,  and  suffers 
for  lack  of  strong  arms  and  stout  hearts  to  redeem  it. 

311.  And  here  I  come  to  one  of  the  most  mischievous 
blunders  of  the  trades-unions.      They  teach,  if  not  cli- 

G 


146  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

rectly,  yet  by  the  spirit  of  their  doctrines,  that  men  have 
a  vested  right  in  their  employments :  that  a  mason  has  a 
right  to  remain  a  mason,  and  that  society  owes  him  a  liv- 
ing by  that  trade.  I  wish  particularly  to  warn  you  against 
this  error.  No  man  has  the  least  right  to  subsistence 
as  merely  a  mason,  or  a  shoemaker,  a  lawyer,  a  clergy- 
man, a  tailor,  a  bricklayer,  or  a  miner.  If  his  labor  as 
a  mason  is  surplus,  if  no  more  masons  are  wanted  when 
he  comes  along  with  his  trowel,  it  is  his  duty,  not  to  con- 
spire against  society  with  absurd  regulations  about  ap- 
prentices and  hours  of  labor,  but  to  go  at  something  else. 
A  man  who  regards  himself  as  only  a  shoemaker,  a  ma- 
son, a  tailor,  a  lawyer,  a  physician,  or  a  clerk,  becomes 
thereby  a  contemptible  object  lie  loses  his  independ- 
ence, and  makes  himself  the  sport  of  circumstances.  In 
our  days,  when  new  inventions  continually  change  the 
methods  of  labor,  it  is  especially  hazardous  for  men  to 
bind  themselves  for  life  to  a  single  employment;  and 
those  only  can  hope  to  benefit  both  themselves  and  their 
fellow- laborers  who,  when  they  find  their  occupation 
overcrowded,  have  courage  and  independence  enough  to 
seek  a  new  calling,  and  if  possible  a  new  field  of  la- 
bor. 

312.  Trades -unions  and  labor  societies  arise  out  of  a 
perfectly  just  feeling,  among  hired  laborers,  that  they 
are  less  comfortable  than  they  wish  to  be.  Education 
has,  in  all  civilized  countries,  given  to  the  great  class  of 
laborers  for  wages  the  taste  and  desire  for  a  greater 
amount  of  comfort  than  contented  them  in  other  days. 
But  the  means  they  take  to  obtain  their  desires  are,  as  I 
have  tried  to  show  you,  mostly  crude  and  in  violation  of 
natural  laws. 


OF   TRADES-UNIONS. 

313.  Trades-unions  should  use  their  means  to  seek  out 
new  fields  of  labor;  to  teach  their  members  energetic- 
ally that  though  to-day  they  may  be  shoemakers,  they 
can,  if  need  be,  achieve  success  as  shepherds,  gold-min- 
ers, farmers ;  that  dependence  is  hateful ;  that  inde- 
pendence is  possible  to  all  who  have  health  and  will ; 
and  that  migration  is  the  duty  of  the  strongest. 


148  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XXIX. 

THE  MALTHUSIAN  THEORY. 

314.  When  you  come  to  read  more  elaborate  works  of 
Political  Economy  than  this,  you  will  perceive  that  some 
of  the  ablest  writers  on  this  subject  speak  of  the  desira- 
bleness of  placing  a  check  upon  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion.    Mr.  Mill,  indeed,  and  those  who  follow  him,  hold 
that  such  a  check  is  absolutely  necessary ;  that  popula- 
tion should  bear  a  "  gradually  diminishing  ratio  to  capital 
and  employment;"  and  he  urges  it  as  a  duty  upon  the 
laboring  classes  to  postpone  marriage,  and  bring  fewer 
children  into  the  world. 

315.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Malthus,  an  English  clergyman, 
presented  to  the  world,  in  the  year  1798,  a  lamentable 
and  alarming  picture  of  what  must  happen  if  men  con- 
tinued to  increase  upon  the  earth,  while  land  could  not 
increase.     He  believed  that  the  best  and  most  fertile 
soils  were  first  occupied;  that  as  population  increased, 
the  best  soils  lost  some  of  their  fertility,  and  the  poorest 
came  into  use ;  and  thus,  naturally  and  inevitably — sup- 
posing him  to  be  right — the  more  mouths,  the  less  food  ; 
and  we  should  by  and  by  be  involved  in  a  general  and 
disgusting  scramble  for  dinner,  in  which,  of  course,  the 
weakest  would  starve.     Upon  this  theory  Mill  and  other 
writers,  whom  you  wil'l  by  and  by  read,  base  their  ap- 
peal for  a  decrease  of  population. 

316.  But  it  will  strike  you,  if  you  reflect  upon  the 


THE  MALTHUSIAN  THEORY.  149 

matter,  that,  first,  as  it  is  not  possible  by  law  to  prevent 
men  from  marrying  and  breeding  children ;  and  as,  ac- 
cording to  Mill  and  others,  abstinence  from  the  solace 
of  the  family  life  is  to  be  expected  only  of  the  most 
thoughtful  and  prudent — in  which  they  are  right,  of 
course — the  result  would  be  degeneration  of  a  people, 
who,  acting  under  such  a  belief,  would  in  fact  breed 
mainly  from  the  lowest  part  of  the  race.  Thus  a  nation 
which  embraced  these  views  would  presently  find  an  in- 
crease of  the  ignorant  and  improvident,  and  a  decrease 
of  the  wise  and  good :  in  seeking  to  make  population 
stationary,  it  would  breed  out  the  brains. 

317.  But,  secondly,  it  is  not  true  that  the  most  fer- 
tile lands  are  the  first  taken  up.    On  the  contrary,  in  the 
first  settlement  of  a  country  the  poorest  lands  are  taken 
up,  and  are  used  in  the  least  productive  way — for  graz- 
ing mainly.     Later,  as  population  presses,  agriculture  is 
begun,  but  in  a  wasteful  manner,  and  still  not  on  the 
best  lands ;  and  it  is  not  until  both  capital  and  labor  are 
abundant  that  men  begin  to  redeem  the  soils  naturally 
most  fertile,  namely,  the  swamps  and  overflowed  lands. 
This,  which  I  think  Mr.  Henry  C.  Carey,  of  Philadelphia, 
was  the  first  to  demonstrate,  you  may  see  in  all  parts  of 
our  own  country.     Nor  is  this  all :  as  population  presses 
upon  the  supply  of  food,  the  arts  of  agriculture  are  im- 
proved;  manures  are  saved;  old  lands  are  redeemed; 
and  all  parts  of  the  soil  are  made  to  bear  larger  crops. 

318.  The  trades-unions  and  other  labor  societies  ap- 
pear to  have  accepted  the  dolorous  view  upon  this  sub- 
ject which  some  Political  Economists  have  presented  to 
them,  and  are  acting  upon  it.     If  it  is  true  that  a  gen- 
eral scramble  for  food  is  imminent,  they  are  perhaps 


150  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

right  in  seeking  to  protect  themselves,  by  forming  their 
trades  into  close  corporations ;  by  keeping  out  new  mem- 
bers ;  by  seeking  to  do  as  little  work,  and  get  as  high 
pay  as  arbitrary  regulations  promise  them. 

319.  But  the  most  fertile  part  of  our  planet  still  lies 
unimproved,  and  in  the  possession  of  savages.     When 
Mr.  Malthus  wrote,  the  whole  great  continent  of  Aus- 
tralia lay  unoccupied :  now  it  supports  already  some 
millions  of  English-speaking  people,  and  adds  yearly 
and  enormously  to  the  food  and  clothing  supply  of  the 
world.     When  Mr.  Mill  began  to  write,  California  was 
occupied  only  by  cattle,  and  a  few  Mexican  families  who 
slew  these  for  their  hides  alone :  now  that  great  state  ex- 
ports wheat  and  wool  and  wine  in  immense  quantities. 
Texas,  as  large  and  as  fertile  as  France,  is  almost  empty. 
South  America  alone  would  support  in  comfort  a  pop- 
ulation greater  than  that  of  Europe   and  the  United 
States  together.     Oceania,  New  Guinea,  and  many  parts 
of  Africa,  now  possessed  by  savages,  are  ready  to  receive 
and  support  an  energetic  and  thrifty  population. 

320.  The  world  lies  open  in  these  days,  when  steam- 
ships and  fire-arms  make  migration  safe — and  migra- 
tion is  one  of  the  great  remedies  for  the   grievances 
of  labor.     Hence  the  importance  of  the  trades-unions : 
if  only  they  would  turn  from  their  strife  against  natural 
laws,  and  make  themselves  the  instruments  of  a  vast  and 
well-organized  scheme  for  founding  new  nations. 


OF  PROHIBITORY  LA  WS,  SO  CALLED.     151 


XXX. 

OF  PROHIBITORY  LAWS,  80  CALLED. 

321.  Benevolent  and  philanthropic  men,  unless  they 
are  also  wise,  which  is  not  always  the  case,  are  fond  of 
trying  to  make   men  virtuous  by  act  of  Legislature. 
Long  experience  has  shown,  however,  that  purely  social 
evils  or  excesses,  or  even  prejudices,  where  these  last 
are  based  on  differences  of  race  or  color,  can  not  be 
cured  by  laws. 

322.  The  intemperate  use  of  spirituous  liquors  is  one 
of  the  greatest  curses  to  which  modern  society  is  ex- 
posed ;  it  is  the  cause  of  at  least  three  quarters  of  the 
vice,  crime,  poverty,  pauperism,  and  misery  to  be  found 
in  our  country.    If  you  were  to  cut  from  the  newspapers 
all  the  reports  of  murders  and  attempts  to  murder  during 
a  year,  yon  would  find  that  at  least  three  out  of  four  arose 
out  of  the  misuse  of  spirituous  liquors.    If  you  trace  to  its 
source  any  case  of  crime,  poverty,  or  extreme  misery  you 
may  meet,  the  chances  are  at  least  four  to  one  that  you 
will  n'nd  "  Rum  did  it."    If  we  could  prevent  the  misuse 
of  spirituous  liquors,  we  should  save  at  least  one  half  of 
the  taxes  collected  by  states,  cities,  and  counties,  and  very 
appreciably  raise  the  average  of  comfort  and  prosperity 
among  the  people.     The  gravity  of  the  evil  is  so  gener- 
ally recognized  that  the  word  "Intemperance"  has  come 
to  have  a  narrow  application  in  the  public  mind,  being 
used  generally  to  signify  the  misuse  of  alcoholic  drinks; 


152  POLITICS   FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

though  men  may  be  and  constantly  are  intemperate  in 
many  other  things,  as  in  eating,  in  the  strife  after  wealth 
or  social  or  political  distinction,  or  in  their  use  of  cards 
and  other  means  of  amusement ;  and  I  have  known  boys 
who  were  intemperate  in  eating  candy  and  gingerbread, 
in  the  use  of  fire-crackers  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  or  in 
novel-reading. 

323.  When  a  boy  manifests  a  morbid  and  depraved  de- 
sire for  candy,  judicious  parents  deny  him  this  indulgence 
— but  they  do  not  necessarily  deprive  all  his  brothers  and 
sisters  who  have  no  such  morbid  craving.     So  when  a 
man  has  contracted  a  passion  for  gambling,  he  does  well 
to  avoid  the  use  of  cards  entirely ;  but  it  does  not  follow, 
because  some  men  intemperately  waste  their  means  in  po- 
ker-playing, that  all  elderly  ladies  and  gentlemen  should 
be  forbidden  a  harmless  and  pleasant  game  of  whist. 

324.  In  many  of  our  states,  however,  philanthropic 
persons  demand  what  is  called  a  Prohibitory  Liquor  Law 
— a  law  entirely  forbidding  the  sale  and  use  of  spirit- 
uous liquors  ;  and  they  demand  this  because  they  believe 
it  is  the  only  way  to  extirpate  the  vice  of  intemperance. 

325.  Law-makers,  in  order  that  their  labors  may  be 
effective  and  useful,  are  bound  to  bear  in  -mind  the  pas- 
sions and  natural  tastes  of  mankind.    Not  every  wrong 
or  evil  can  be  cured  by  law;  and  there  are  matters 
which  the  wise  law-maker  leaves  unnoticed  on  the  stat- 
ute-books. 

326.  Further,  it  is  important  for  you  to  know  that  any 
law  is  unwise  which  has  not  the  general  favor  of  the 
community  to  which  it  is  to  be  applied;  for  if  a  law  lias 
not  this  general  countenance  and  support  in  public  opin- 
ion, it  can  not  be  enforced  in  a  free  state.     It  is  only  a 


OF  PROHIBITORY  LA  WS,  SO  CALLED.     153 

despotic  ruler  who  can,  by  force  of  arms,  terrify  and 
compel  his  subjects  into  a  change  of  their  habits.  Hence 
such  a  law  as  that  lately  before  Congress,  and  wrongly 
called  a  "  Civil  Rights  bill,"  is  most  unwise,  because  it 
offends  the  long-existing  and  bitter  prejudices  of  a  very 
large  part  of  the  community,  and,  besides,  attempts  to 
obtain  for  the  colored  people  what  it  is  not  the  province 
of  law  to  secure  for  any  one,  namely,  social  equality : 
the  right  by  law  to  force  themselves  into  the  society  of 
persons  who  do  not  like  them.  A  law  compelling  all 
hotel -keepers  to  receive  colored  men  as  guests  favors 
the  colored  men  at  the  expense  of  the  whites — for  it 
leaves  to  the  latter  no  hotel  to  which  they  can  resort 
without  offense  to  their  feelings.  These  feelings  may 
be  foolish  or  wrong;  but  they  exist — and  they  are  so 
strong  and  bitter  that  they  can  not  be  removed  by  laws. 
Time,  in  such  a  case,  is  better  than  laws.  The  Civil 
Rights  bill  in  fact  comes  under  the  head  of  Prohibitory 
Laws,  which  we  are  considering. 

327.  In  legislating  upon  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors, 
a  wise  law-maker  would  remember  that  the  craving  for 
stimulants  is  universal  among  mankind ;  that  spirituous 
liquors  and  wines  are  of  important  use  in  diseases,  and 
when  moderately  used  are  doubtless  of  service  in  pre- 
venting some  diseases ;  that  the  right  of  a  man  to  de- 
cide whether  or  no  he  needs  a  stimulant  can  not  be  de- 
clared by  any  general  law,  because  each  case  must  neces- 
sarily be  judged  upon  its  own  features,  and  it  must 
therefore  practically  be  left  to  himself ;  that  it  is  not  a 
function  of  law  to  prevent  a  man  in)\\r'mg  himself—  else 
the  government  would  have  to  interfere  in  every  act  of 
our  lives :  but  only  to  prevent  him  from  injuring  others ; 

G  2 


154  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

and  that,  finally,  a  law  prohibiting  the  sale  and  use  of  an 
article  in  universal  demand  can  not  be  carried  into  effect 
without  vexatious  and  justly  hateful  searches  in  private 
houses  and  interference  with  individual  desires  and 
tastes.  To  a  wise  law-maker,  therefore,  greatly  as  he 
might  be  impressed  with  the  evils  arising  to  society  out 
of  the  misuse  of  spirituous  liquors,  a  general  law  totally 
prohibiting  their  use  and  sale  within  a  state,  or  the 
United  States,  would  seern  inexpedient,  because  it  could 
not  be  enforced,  and,  if  it  could  be,  would  involve  an 
unjust  and  vexatious  interference  with  individual  rights. 
328.  Prohibitory  liquor  laws  are  thus  unwise,  and  their 
adoption  ought  to  be  opposed  because  they  are  directed 
not  against  the  abuse,  but  against  the  use  of  an  arti- 
cle. But  society  has  a  right  to  seek,  by  judicious  regu- 
lations, to  protect  itself  against  the  results  of  the  misuse 
of  liquors.  It  has  a  right  to  exact  of  the  retail  liquor- 
seller  a  tax  or  penalty  for  the  privilege  of  pursuing  his 
injurious  calling,  and  to  establish  and  enforce  severe 
penalties  for  selling  without  such  permit  or  license.  It 
may  rightly  levy  a  fine  upon  the  liquor-seller  in  whose 
house  a  drunken  man  is  found  ;  and  put  a  penalty  upon 
habitual  drunkenness — which  might  very  justly  be  hard 
labor  for  the  benefit  of  his  family.  Also  the  community 
may  refuse  entirely  to  license  bar-rooms  or  other  places 
for  the  sale  of  liquor  at  retail  and  its  consumption  on 
the  premises.  Moreover,  it  would  be  eminently  just  to 
devote  the  proceeds  of  liquor-licenses  to  the  support  of 
the  hospitals,  poor-houses,  orphan  asylums,  jails,  and  pen- 
itentiaries which  the  misuse  of  strong  drink  does  so 
much  to  fill ;  and  the  necessities  of  these  charitable  and 
penal  institutions  might  be  made,  in  any  state  or  county, 


OF  PROHIBITORY  LAWS,  SO   CALLED.          155 

the  measure  of  the  license  fees  which  should  be  exacted 
from  liquor -sellers,  instead  of  fixing  a  mere  arbitrary 
sum.  In  this  way,  at  least  those  who  keep  and  frequent 
tippling-houses  would  be  obliged  to  make  up  to  the  com- 
munity some  part  of  the  money-loss  inflicted  upon  it  by 
their  vice. 

329.  In  the  vain  attempt  to  prohibit  the  use  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors,  the  temperance  people  have  neglected 
many  practical  measures  for  lessening  the  misuse  — 
which  is  all  they  have  any  business  with.  It  is  but  re- 
cently, for  instance,  that  they  have  awakened  to  the 
great  advantage  of  empowering  small  communities, 
townships,  or  even  school-districts,  and  wards  in  cities, 
to  decide,  by  a  vote  of  the  inhabitants,  the  question 
whether  liquor-licenses  shall  be  granted  or  denied  within 
their  bounds.  This  is  called  "  local  option,"  and  I  will 
proceed  to  explain  to  you  its  uses. 


156  POLITICS   FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 


XXXI. 

OF  "LOCAL   OPTION." 

330.  "Local  option"  is  an  application  of  the  principle 
of  Decentralization,  which  I  explained  to  you  in  Section 
VIII. 

331.  In  our  political  system,  as  you  have  read,  some 
things  are  assigned  to  the  Federal  Government,  some  to 
the  state  government,  and  some  by  this  to  the  count}7, 
city,  and  township  governments.     Of  late,  it  has  been 
seen  by  wise  men  that  some  matters  which  have  been 
usually  left  to  the  state,  or  to  the  counties  and  cities, 
might  advantageously  be  assigned  to  the  smaller  polit- 
ical subdivisions. 

332.  For  instance,  a  compulsory  school  law  is  found 
to  be  very  difficult  of  enforcement  over  a  whole  state. 
In  some  parts  public  opinion  would  readily  sustain  such  a 
law ;  in  others  it  is  opposed,  and  where  this  is  the  case 
such  a  law  is  likely  to  be  a  dead  letter.     Again,  a  law 
refusing  liquor -licenses  would  be  sustained  by  public 
sentiment  in  some  localities,  but  would  be  openly  vio- 
lated in  others,  where  the  public  opinion  was  decidedly 
hostile  to  it. 

333.  If,  now,  instead  of  adopting  one  rule  for  all  the 
people  of  a  state,  the  Legislature  should  empower  every 
township,  city,  ward,  or  school  -  district  to  declare  by  a 
vote  of  its  citizens,  to  be  taken  once  a  year,  that  within 
the  limits  of  such  a  subdivision  licenses  should  be  grant- 


OF  "LOCAL   OPTION."  157 

ed,  or  refused,  it  is  evident  that,  as  each  of  these  small 
subdivisions  would  decide  for  itself,  its  inhabitants  would 
be  directly  thrown  upon  their  responsibility.  If  the 
majority  wished  tippling-shops,  they  would  vote  for  li- 
censing them ;  if  they  wished  to  extirpate  them,  they 
would  vote  to  refuse  licenses ;  but  it  would  be  certain 
that  public  sentiment  would  enforce  the  law.  Moreover, 
by  such  an  expedient  the  friends  of  temperance  would 
be  able  to  raise  the  question  once  a  year,  to  bring  it 
prominently  before  the  people  in  each  locality,  and  to 
show  the  people,  by  statistics  and  facts,  the  economical 
advantages  of  temperance.  This  course  has  been  pursued 
for  a  number  of  years  in  the  township  of  Vineland,  in 
New  Jersey,  and  the  people  annually  vote  to  refuse  all 
licenses  to  sell  liquor.  They  have  found,  as  the  result  of 
their  firmness,  that  crime  and  pauperism  are  almost  en- 
tirely banished  from  their  town. 

334.  The  expedient  of  local  option  can  be  usefully 
extended  to  other  measures  of  policy ;  and  if  this  is 
done,  it  will,  by  and  by,  bring  us  back  to  the  town-meet- 
ing system  of  New  England,  which  I  described  to  you 
in  Section  XV.,  and  thus  one  of  the  most  important  po- 
litical reforms  possible  in  our  system  would  be  brought 
about ;  for  thus  the  people  of  a  small  locality,  in  pub- 
lic meeting  assembled,  would  once  more  discuss  their 
local  affairs,  and  vote  directly  upon  the  policy  they  wish 
to  pursue  and  the  money  they  are  willing  to  spend  for 
public  purposes. 


158  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XXXII. 

OF  CORPORATIONS. 

335.  A  Corporation  is  an  association  of  persons  united 
to  promote  a  common  purpose,  either  of  morals,  pleas- 
ure, or  business.     Thus  a  church,  a  library  association, 
a  college,  a  Masonic  or  other  benevolent  society,  an  in- 
surance or  railroad  or  telegraph  company,  is  a  corpora- 
tion. 

336.  Corporations  are  called  in  law  "artificial  per- 
sons," which  means  that  they  have  no  natural  existence, 
but  are  the  creatures  of  law.     It  is  commonly  said  of 
them  that  they  "have  neither  bodies  to  be  kicked  nor 
souls  to  be  damned,"  which  means  that  they  are  not  ame- 
nable to  the  usual  penalties  for  misconduct.    It  is,  there- 
fore, necessary  and  proper  to  limit  strictly  their  powers 
and  privileges,  to  impose  severe  penalties  for  their  mis- 
conduct, and  to  enable  the  public  to  hold  them  quickly 
and  easily  to  account  in  the  courts.     Legislative  bod- 
ies, whose  first  duty  is  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple, may  justly  regard  corporations  with  suspicion,  and 
scrutinize  with  great  care  all  grants  of  power  to  such 
bodies. 

337.  But  the  right  of  free  association  for  business  and 
other  purposes  is  of  so  great  importance  that  it  ought 
not  to  be  unduly  hampered.    All  persons  in  a  state  ought 
to  have  equal  rights  to  form  corporations,  under  general 
laws,  carefully  drawn  ;  and  it  ought  never  to  be  necessary 


OF  CORPORATIONS.  159 

to  go  to  a  legislative  body  for  a  special  charter,  or  instru- 
ment creating  a  corporation.  General  laws  should  equal- 
ly limit  and  define  their  powers  and  privileges,  and  im- 
pose equal  penalties  for  misconduct.  Thus  a  general 
railroad  law  should  stand  on  the  statute-book,  subject  to 
which  any  body  of  men  within  the  state  might  form 
themselves  into  a  railroad  company ;  and  the  same  is 
true  of  telegraphs,  steamships,  library  societies,  churches, 
etc.  Thus  monopolies  would  be  prevented,  and  a  fruit- 
ful source  of  corruption  in  legislative  bodies  removed. 
For  where  special  charters  are  granted,  it  is  a  common 
occurrence  to  see  rival  companies  struggling  against 
each  other  before  legislative  committees,  and  using 
bribery  to  gain  their  ends  or  defeat  their  opponents. 

338.  While  the   rights   and  powers   of   corporations 
ought  to  be  rigorously  defined  and  limited,  those  which 
are  granted  them  are  as  sacred  as  any  personal  rights, 
and  ought  to  be  as  secure  against  attack.    A  corporation, 
when  it  does  wrong,  or  exceeds  its  powers,  is  amenable 
to  the  courts ;  to  drag  it  before  a  Legislature  or  Con- 
gress, for  what  is  called  "  Investigation,"  is  not  only  un- 
just, but  tends  invariably  to  the  corruption  of  the  legis- 
lative body.      For  the   corporation  will  defend  itself ; 
and,  being  a  creature  without  a  soul,  whose  members 
feel  no  personal  or  moral  responsibility  for  the  corporate 
acts,  it  is  very  likely  to  be  unscrupulous  in  self-defense 
if  it  is  attacked  in  an  unjust  way. 

339.  As  corporations  have  unusual  powers,  and  are 
often  in  the  nature  of  monopolies,  the  governments  which 
create  them   may  rightly  require  of  them   reports  of 
their  operations  at  regular  and  fixed  intervals ;  and  pro- 
vide penalties  for  failure  to  report  regularly  or  correct- 


160  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

ly ;  as  well  as  for  violation  of  the  law  under  which  they 
exist.  In  this  way  accurate  information  concerning 
them  is  made  accessible  to  the  public.  With  the  help 
of  such  information,  and  with  unrestricted  liberty  to 
form  new  corporations,  subject  to  equal  and  general  laws, 
restrictions,  and  penalties,  monopolies  may  and  will  be 
kept  in  order.  It  depends,  however,  upon  the  vigilance 
of  the  people  to  do  this ;  for  corporations,  like  govern- 
ments, are  always  ready  to  presume  upon  the  ignorance 
and  carelessness  of  the  people. 


CONFEDERATION  AND    UNION. 


XXXIII. 

OF  CONFEDERATION  AND   UNION. 

340.  You  already  know  from  history  that  our  country 
was  first  settled  mainly  by  English  people,  who  were 
formed  into  different   colonies,  subject  to  the  British 
crown.     The  English  eventually  acquired  all  the  settled 
parts  of  our  Atlantic  seaboard. 

341.  The  management  of  colonies  by  all  the  European 
governments  was,  at  that  time,  conceived  in  the  most 
narrow  and  selfish  spirit.     A  colony  was  held,  by  the 
ablest  statesmen  of  the  last  century,  to  be  rightly  treated 
as  a  dependency  whose  inhabitants  were  to  enrich  only 
the  government  whose  flag  they  served,  and  the  nation 
from  which  they  were  derived ;  and  the  people  of  a  col- 
ony were  therefore  forbidden  to  trade  with  foreign  na- 
tions, and  even  to  manufacture  for  themselves  many 
articles  which  were  produced  in  the  mother  country. 

342.  The  British  Navigation  Act  closed  the  North 
American  ports  to  all  but  English  ships,  forbade  any  but 
English  subjects  to  engage  in  foreign  trade,  and  pro- 
hibited the  exportation  of  sugar,  tobacco,  cotton,  wool, 
and  other  products  of  the  colonies,  to  any  country  but 
England.     Also  the  English  colonists  were  forbidden  to 
establish  manufactures  of  several  kinds,  because  it  was 
held  that  they  would  thus  injure  the  industries  of  En- 
gland. 

343.  It  was  this  interference  with  the  right  to  produce 


162  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

what 'they  pleased,  and  to  freely  exchange  their  prod- 
ucts where  they  could  do  so  most  advantageously,  which 
began  that  alienation  from  England  which  ended  in 
the  Revolutionary  War  and  the  independence  of  the  col- 
onies. The  greater  part  of  the  wrongs  set  forth  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  grew  out  of  the  efforts  of 
the  English  government  to  confine  the  commerce  of  the 
colonies  to  the  mother  country ;  out  of  the  determina- 
tion of  the  Americans  freely  to  produce  what  they 
pleased,  and  freely  to  exchange  their  products  wherever 
it  was  to  their  advantage  to  do  so.  I  call  your  atten- 
tion to  this  fact,  in  order  that  you  may  see  the  extreme 
importance  which  civilized  men  attach  to  these  rights. 

344.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  the  colo- 
nies, which  had  become  states,  formed  themselves  into 
a  Confederation;  but,  jealous  of  their  separate  independ- 
ence, and  fearful  of  a  new  master,  the  states,  in  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  reserved,  each  to  itself,  almost 
all  the  powers  of  government. 

345.  The  government  of  the  Confederation  had  no 
president  or  other  executive ;  it  had  no  power  over  in- 
dividuals, either  to  tax,  to  coerce,  or  to  punish  them.    It 
consisted  of  a  Congress  of  delegates  elected  by  the  state 
Legislatures,  and  upon  this  Congress  were  devolved  cer- 
tain duties,  which,  however,  it  had  no  power  to  per- 
form.    All  its  determinations  were  to  be  carried  into 
effect  by  the  states,  whom,  however,  it  had  no  power  to 
coerce. 

346.  The  states,  under  the  Confederation,  reserved  to 
themselves  the  power  of  the  purse.    The  Congress  could 
declare  the  amount  of  revenue  needed  to  carry  on  the 
general  government,  but  the  taxes  were  laid  and  collect- 


CONFEDERATION  AND    UNION.  163 

ed  by  the  states,  according  to  a  general  apportionment, 
and  when,  as  sometimes  happened,  some  states  did  not 
pay  in  their  quota,  the  Congress  had  no  power  to  enforce 
its  payment.  The  Congress  had  authority  to  declare 
war,  but  it  could  not  raise  a  single  soldier :  that  was  re- 
served to  the  states.  The  Congress  was  made  an  arbi- 
trator between  the  states :  but  it  was  powerless  to  en- 
force its  decisions.  Finally,  the  states,  which  alone  could 
levy  taxes,  reserved  to  themselves  the  regulation  of  com- 
merce, and  the  right  to  tax  the  exchange  of  products, 
not  only  those  coming  from  abroad,  but  also  those  which 
were  sent  from  one  state  to  another ;  and  it  was  not  long 
before  high  and  vexatious  duties  were  exacted,  for  the 
"encouragement  of  home  industry,"  on  the  importation 
of  goods  from  one  state  into  another,  which  led,  natural- 
ly, to  retaliatory  laws,  and  presently  to  such  obstruction 
of  the  exchange  of  products  as  caused  a  general  pros- 
tration of  all  industries  in  all  the  states.  Production 
was  discouraged,  because  markets  were  limited ;  at  every 
state  boundary  custom-house  officers  stood  to  exact  trib- 
ute of  the  man  who  had  something  to  exchange ;  and 
as  the  profitableness  of  industry  depends  on  the  right  to 
exchange,  and  is  diminished  by  every  check  placed  upon 
the  freedom  of  exchange,  and  by  every  limitation  of  the 
area  over  which  a  product  may  be  exchanged,  production 
was  fatally  hampered,  and  the  whole  country  fell  into 
poverty. 

347.  The  first  movement  toward  a  better  form  of  gov- 
ernment arose  out  of  a  convention  called  to  remove 
some  unendurably  vexatious  fetters  upon  the  exchange 
of  products.  Commissioners  were  appointed  by  the  Leg- 
islatures of  Maryland  and  Virginia  to  make  freer  to  the 


164  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

people  of  those  states  the  navigation  of  the  Rivers  Po- 
tomac and  Roanoke,  and  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  They 
were  unable  to  act  effectively ;  and  at  their  instance  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia,  in  1786,  proposed  a  convention 
of  commissioners  from  all  the  states,  "  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  state  of  trade,  and  the  propriety  of  a  uni- 
form system  of  commercial  relations."  These  commis- 
sioners advised  a  convention  to  revise  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  and  it  was  this  body  which  in  1787  framed 
our  present  Constitution. 

348.  Once  more  you  see  the  extreme  importance  to 
the  prosperity  of  industry,  of  freedom  of  exchange.    Our 
Constitution  grew  out  of  the  necessity  of  freeing  the  ex- 
change of  products  from  the  fetters  imposed  upon  it  by 
the  states ;  and,  accordingly,  those  who  framed  it  took 
care  to  secure  in  the  most  effectual  manner  this  great  ob- 
ject. 

349.  The  Constitution  differs  in  but  two  fundamental 
particulars  from  the  Articles  of  Confederation  :  it  gives 
the  Central  Government  direct  power  over  individuals ; 
and  it  establishes  absolute  freedom  of  exchange  between 
all  the  states,  and  leaves  the  regulation  of  foreign  com- 
merce, which  was  and  is  still  regarded  as  a  source  of 
revenue,  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment.   All  other  changes  were  mere  incidents  arising 
naturally  out  of  these  two.    For  with  power  to  levy  tax- 
es and  to  punish  individuals  came  the  necessity  for  an 
executive  and  a  judicial  branch  of  the  government ;  and 
for  the  rest:  the  government  of  the  Confederation  was 
charged  with  the  declaration  of   war   and  peace,  the 
maintenance  of  post-roads,  the  regulation  of  the  coinage, 
the  maintenance  of  embassadors  abroad,  etc.,  etc.,  just  as 


CONFEDERATION  AND    UNION.  165 

our  Federal  Government  is — only  it  had  no  power  to 
cause  any  thing  to  be  actually  done ;  because  it  had  no 
power  to  coerce  individuals,  to  enforce  its  acts  by  courts 
or  soldiers,  or  to  raise  a  revenue. 

350.  The  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  by  freeing  the 
exchange  of  products  among  the  states,  at  once  revived 
industry,  by  vastly  enlarging  the  market  for  all  products. 
When  men  could  once  more  sell  without  obstruction 
what  they  had  raised  and  produced,  every  energy  was 
stimulated  which  before  was  crushed,  and  we  began  thus, 
by  the  removal  of  obstructions  to  exchange,  that  career 
of  prosperity  and  growth  which  has  been  the  wonder  of 
the  world. 

351.  The  union  of  the  states  under  a  Central  or  Federal 
Government  has  thus  been  the  direct  cause  of  all  our  long 
and  remarkable  career  of  prosperity,  and  this  because, 
first,  it  has  secured  to  our  people,  within  certain  limits, 
unrestricted  freedom  of  exchange,  which  has  acted  as  a 
constant  stimulant  to  their  enterprise,  ingenuity,  and  in- 
dustry.   It  has  set  a  prize  on  intelligence  by  securing  its 
products  an  immense  market,  covering  the  greater  and 
the  richest  part  of  the  continent.    Second,  the  Constitu- 
tion assured  homogeneous  laws  and  free  intercommuni- 
cation over  the  whole  of  our  territory,  and  thus  made 
migration  possible  and  safe,  whereby  new  fields  of  activ- 
ity are  constantly  opened  to  the  thrifty  poor  and  to  the 
restless  and  adventurous  of  our  population. 

352.  Finally,  the  self-government  in  local  affairs  re- 
served to  the  states  has  enabled  these  to  experiment 
safely,  and  to  make  changes  in  the  state  constitutions, 
not  always  for  the  best,  but  often  needed  improvements, 
and  thus,  by  comparing  results,  to  gradually  and  safely 
improve  our  system  of  government. 


166  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XXXIV. 

TEE  AMERICAN  POLITICAL  SYSTEM. 

353.  Appended  to  this  volume  you  will  find  the  Fed- 
eral  Constitution,  which   I   advise   you   to   read   with 
care. 

354.  You  will  discover  that  this  instrument  creates  a 
government  of  limited  powers,  but  of  unlimited  author- 
ity within  its  province.     For  instance,  the  President  of 
the  United  States  can  not  appoint  any  state  officer,  nor 
issue  a  command  to  him — not  even  a  j  ustice  of  the  peace 
or  a  constable  in  a  township ;  but  he  may  draft  or  com- 
pel half  a  million  of  citizens  into  the  army  in  case  of 
war.     Congress  may  declare  war,  and  levy  taxes  to  carry 
it  on ;  it  may  declare  who  are  citizens,  how  much  gold 
shall  go  to  a  dollar,  and  how  many  pounds  of  wheat  to 
a  bushel ;  but  it  can  not  enact  or  repeal  a  city  charter,  nor 
interfere  in  the  acts  of  even  a  township's  trustees. 

355.  This  limitation  and  division  of  powers  we  call 
Decentralization.    You  have  read  of  it  in  Section  VIII. ; 
and  its  practical  application  is  one  of  the  most  important 
and  beneficial  features  of  our  political  system. 

356.  Under  it,  you  must  remember,  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment has  absolute  command  and  power  over  every 
citizen  and  his  property  ,for  certain  purposes  and  in  cer- 
tain relations  ;  and  this  is  necessary  to  give  it  efficiency. 
But  it  is  absolutely  without  power  over  the  citizens  in 
other  relations,  and   this   is   necessary  to  secure    our 


THE  AMERICAN  POLITICAL   SYSTEM.          167 

liberties,  and  to  give  elasticity  to  our  political  system ; 
which  means  to  make  change  possible  without  revolu- 
tion. 

357.  The  people  of  the  United  States  are  a  nation; 
the  Federal  Government  is  a  national  government  in  the 
truest  and  largest  sense  of  the  word ;  and  the  Constitu- 
tion empowers  it  to  do  all  that  any  nation  can  require 
of  its  government,  and  to  act  in  the  most  direct  and  de- 
cisive manner  upon  the  individual  citizen. 

358.  The  Federal  Government  has  the  exclusive  charge 
of  our  intercourse,  as  a  nation,  with  other  nations ;  and 
it  alone  can  make  treaties.     If  you  travel  abroad,  your 
citizenship  is  declared  by  a  Federal  passport ;  your  rights 
are   defended  by  the  Federal   Government;   you   are 
known  as  a  citizen,  not  of  New  Jersey  or  California,  but 
of  the  United  States;  the  flag  of  your  country  is  the  Fed- 
eral flag;  and  foreign  governments  have  not  even  any 
official  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  our  states. 

359.  The  Federal  Government  has  the  exclusive  au- 
thority to  make  treaties,  to  declare  war  and  peace,  to 
raise  armies  and  maintain  a  navy ;  and  though  the  militia 
in  time  of  peace  are  trained  by  the  states,  it  must  be  ac- 
cording to  rules  adopted  by  the  Federal  Congress.     It 
has  the  entire  charge  of  the  common  defense  against  at- 
tack from  other  nations,  and  has  the  power  to  defend  its 
own  existence  against  rebellion,  and  make  its  own  laws 
obeyed  by  all  the  citizens — all  state  constitutions  and 
laws  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding — as  was  shown  in 
the  late  war.     It  is  empowered  to  raise  revenue  by  in- 
ternal as  well  as  external  taxes,  and,  if  necessary,  to  bor- 
row money  for  these  and  many  other  purposes.     Its  tax- 
collectors  and  other  officers  proceed  directly  against  the 


168  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

individual  citizen,  and  in  its  own  courts.  It  has  the  ex- 
clusive authority  to  establish  and  maintain  post-offices, 
to.  coin  money  and  punish  counterfeiters ;  to  fix  weights 
and  measures,  to  regulate  commerce,  to  take  cognizance 
of  offenses  committed  at  sea,  in  the  territories,  and 
against  the  laws  of  nations ;  to  enact  bankrupt-laws,  to 
declare  who  shall  be  citizens,  and  to  grant  patents  and 
copyrights.  In  all  these  matters  the  state  governments 
have  absolutely  no  authority ;  and  all  laws  enacted  by 
Congress,  for  these  and  other  purposes  recited  in  the  Con- 
stitution, are  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  as  such 
entitled  to  your  faithful  obedience,  even  though  a  state 
constitution  or  laws  should  command  you  to  the  contra- 
ry. For,  an  act  of  Congress,  a  decision  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  or  a  command  of  the  President 
when  this  is  in  accordance  with  an  act  of  Congress,  is 
above  any  or  all  state  laws  and  constitutions.  The  states 
are  so  completely  prohibited  from  interfering  with  the 
Federal  Government  in  its  own  field,  as  this  is  prescribed 
in  the  Constitution,  that  they  can  not  even  tax  Federal 
bonds ;  and  the  Federal  power  is  so  supreme,  within  its 
limits,  that  it  may  punish  even  so  small  an  offense  as  the 
obstruction  of  one  of  its  mail  wagons. 

360.  It  may  be  well  to  explain  to  you  here,  also,  that 
when  a  citizen  disobeys  a  Federal  law  he  is  directly 
dealt  with — arrested,  tried,  and  punished — by  Federal 
officers  and  courts ;  but  when  a  state  adopts  an  uncon- 
stitutional law,  the  citizen  called  on  to  obey  it  appeals 
to  the  Federal  Supreme  Court,  and  its  decision  on  the 
question  is  final.  Thus  the  President  does  not  act  di- 
rectly against  states  as  he  may  against  citizens ;  and 
this  is  an  important  distinction. 


THE  AMERICAN  POLITICAL  SYSTEM. 

361.  In  all  that  concerns  us  as  a  nation,  either  in  our 
external  or  internal  interests,  the  Federal  Government  is 
thus  supreme.    But  in  a  great  many  important  relations 
it  has  nothing  to  do  with  us  ;  and  these  are  left  as  abso- 
lutely to  the  state  governments,  and  to  the  county  and 
city  governments,  as  the  other  and  general  interests  are 
given  to  the  Federal  Government.     In  fact,  great  and 
apparently  overshadowing  as  is  the  power  of  our  Central 
Government,  it  is  scarcely  felt  by  the  individual  citizen, 
except  when  we  have  a  war,  which  involves  the  raising 
of  armies  and  a  navy,  and  heavy  taxation,  or  when  we  are 
cursed  with  a  heavy  debt,  or  serious  internal  disorders. 
Before  the  late  war  there  were  millions  of  Americans 
who  hardly  knew  that  there  was  a  Federal  Government, 
except  when  they  voted  for  a  President  or  a  Member  of 
Congress.     The  Federal  revenues  were  then  collected 
entirely  at  a  few  custom-houses ;  the  only  tax-gatherer 
seen  by  the  mass  of  citizens  was  a  state  officer ;  and  the 
only  evidences  of  the  Federal  power's  activity  which 
then  came  under  the  notice  of  the  multitude  of  citizens 
were  in  the  benefits  they  received  from  post-offices,  light- 
houses, and  the  survey  of  wild  lands. 

362.  A  state  government  has  the  exclusive  authority 
to  maintain  peace  and  order  within  its  limits,  to  punish 
crimes,  except  those  committed  against  the  United  States 
or  against  the  laws  of  nations  ;  to  appoint  the  police  and 
maintain  the  prisons ;  to  regulate  the  tenure  of  lands 
and  the  rules  of  inheritance ;  it  has  charge  of  educa- 
tion and  the  public  health ;  it  creates  and  regulates  all 
corporations,  such  as  railroad  and  insurance  companies, 
within  its  limits ;  it  declares  who  of  its  citizens  shall 
vote ;  it  may  regulate  the  sale  of  liquors  and  poisons, 

H 


170  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

and  abolish  nuisances.  In  all  these  matters,  and  others 
of  the  same  kind,  the  state  has  jurisdiction  and  power, 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  Federal  Government ;  and  the 
Governor,  the  state  Courts,  and  the  state  Legislature  have 
abundant  power  to  perform  all  their  duties. 

363.  For  instance,  though  the  Federal  Government  has 
the  right  and  power  to  punish  resistance  to  or  violation 
of  its  own  laws  any  where  within  the  national  limits,  it 
has  no  right  to  interfere  in  case  of  a  riot  or  insurrection 
against  the  state  authorities,  until  these,  in  a  formal  and 
prescribed  manner,  call  on  it  for  aid.     If  you  remember 
what  you  read  in  Section  VIII.  about  the  meaning  and 
advantages  of  decentralization  and  local  self-government, 
you  will  easily  comprehend  the  reasons  for  such  a  divi- 
sion of  power,  and  perceive  that  it  is  not  arbitrary,  or 
fancifully  made. 

364.  Within  the  state  there  are  a  number  of  political 
subdivisions :  the  county,  township,  and  school-district, 
and  the  city  and  ward ;  all  these  are  created  and  may 
be  changed  by  the  state  Legislature,  and  to  each  a  part 
of  the  work  of  government  is  assigned  by  the  state  con- 
stitution and  in  accordance  with  custom,  which  varies 
somewhat  in  different  states.     A  city  ward  is  the  equiv- 
alent of  a  township ;  but  cities  are  with  us  governed 
by  a  charter  granted  by  the  state  Legislature,  while 
county  governments  are  usually  prescribed  in  a  state 
constitution.     There  is  no   reason  for  this  difference ; 
and  the  practice  of  granting  special  charters  to  cities 
has  been  the  cause  of  much  ignorant  and  mischievous 
legislation,  and  of  wide-spread  corruption.     A  city  gov- 
ernment needs  to  be  somewhat  differently  constituted 
from  that  of  a  county ;  but  there  is  no  reason  why  all 


THE  AMERICAN  POLITICAL   SYSTEM. 

the  cities  of  a  state  should  not  exist  under  a  single  char- 
ter, carefully  drawn. 

365.  The  table  which  you  will  find  on  the  next  page 
will  give  you  a  summary  view  of  the  different  political 
subdivisions  recognized  in  our  system,  with  their  duties 
and  officers.  You  will  see  how  we  proceed  step  by  step, 
from  the  smallest  political  division,  where  the  people  act 
directly  upon  measures  which  most  immediately  concern 
their  daily  lives,  to  the  largest^to  which  general  powers 
only  are  intrusted,  having  reference  solely  to  the  welfare 
and  security  of  the  whole  nation.  Take  notice  that  by  this 
division  of  powers  and  duties,  first,  government  is  made 
less  cumbrous,  and  is  therefore  likely  to  be  more  efficient 
and  economical ;  second,  that  as  the  power  of  a  subdi- 
vision becomes  more  formidable,  it  is  less  intimately 
brought  in  contact  with  the  people — thus  the  state  gov- 
ernment does  not  concern  itself  with  roads,  and  the 
Federal  Government  has  no  charge  of  schools  or  the 
police ;  third,  that  thus  the  people  are  accustomed  as 
much  as  possible  to  act  directly  upon  their  local  and 
private  interests,  leaving  only  matters  of  more  extended 
interest  to  the  charge  of  the  more  distant  and  neces- 
sarily representative  governments,  as  the  state  and  the 
Federal  authorities.  Thus  political  education  and  the 
spirit  of  independence  are  maintained. 


172 


POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


Name  of  Division. 

Has  charge  of 

Officers. 

School  District. 

The  free  or  public  school. 

School  trustees. 

Trustees,  justice  of 

Local  peace,  small  offenses 

the  peace,  consta- 

Township. 

in  justice's  court  ;  roads, 
pounds,  local   nuisances, 

ble,  clerk,  road- 
•  master,     assessor 

paupers,  taxes. 

and  collector  of 

taxes. 

Main  or  county  roads  and 

bridges;  nuisances,  pub- 

Judge, prosecuting 

lic  health,  general  police, 

attorney,   clerk, 

crimes   and   general   of- 

public   adminis- 

fenses, county  court,  clerk 

trator,  sheriff,  su- 

County. 

for  public    records,   ad- 

perintendent   of 

ministration  of  wills,  su- 

schools, coroner, 

perintendence  of  schools 

treasurer,    super- 

and of  paupers,  collection 

visors  or  commis- 

of taxes   for   state    and 

sioners,  surveyor. 

county,  jail,  poor-house. 

General  peace  and  order; 

the   enactment  and  en- 

9 

State. 

forcement  of  all  laws  ap- 
plicable   to    the    whole 
state,  and   under  which 
all  local  bodies  act,  and 
to  which  they  are  sub- 
ject (the  state  laws  are 
the  supreme  law  of  the 
state,  all  county  or  town- 
ship laws  to  the  contrary 

Governor,  secretary 
of  state,treasurer, 
attorney-  general, 
superintend't   of 
education,  circuit 
courts  and  courts 
of  appeal,  public 
works,    Legislat- 
ure. 

notwithstanding),  militia 

drills,  corporations,  right 

of  suffrage. 

President,  secreta- 

ries of  state,  treas- 

Federal. 

War  and  peace,  foreign  re- 
lations, public  lands,  In- 
dians,  army    and   navy, 
light-houses,  customs'  du- 
ties, coinage,  weights  and 
measures,  post-offices. 

ury,  interior,  post- 
mast.-general  and 
attorney  -  general, 
postmasters,  rev- 
enue collectors  of 
different   kinds, 
and  a  multitude 

of  other  officers 

and  clerks. 

OF  THE  RIGHTS  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITIZEN.  173 


XXXV. 

OF  THE  INALIENABLE  RIGHTS   OF  AN  AMERICAN 
CITIZEN. 

366.  In  all  the  constitutions,  Federal  and  state,  the 
people  have  reserved  to  themselves  certain  rights  and 
immunities,  which  none  of  their  governments  are  allowed 
to  interfere  with ;  and  it  is  important  that  you  should 
understand  these. 

367.  As  an  American  citizen,  you  are  a  free  man ; 
and  no  one  has  a  right  to  enslave  your  person,  except 
for  crime,  of  which  you  must  first  be  convicted,  upon  a 
fair  trial  in  open  court ;  or  to  take  from  you  your  prop- 
erty, except  by  due  process  of  law. 

368.  You  have  a  right  to  believe  what  you  please ;  to 
worship  God  as  you  please ;  to  express  your  opinions  on 
all  subjects  freely  (but  you  may  be  punished  for  libel- 
ous  attacks  on  your  fellow -men) ;  to  print  what  you 
please  (with  the  same  restriction) ;  to  assemble  with  whom 
you  please,  for  lawful  and  proper  objects ;  to  petition  the 
state  or  Federal  Government  for  redress  of  grievances. 

369.  You  have  a  right  to  be  arrested  only  for  cause 
mentioned  in  a  proper  and  legal  warrant,  served  by  an 
authorized  officer  of  the  law,  who  must  show  you  his  au- 
thority. 

370.  Yon  have  a  right  to  be  released  on  bail,  unless 
charged  with  a  capital  crime ;  and  to  be  produced  be- 
fore the  nearest  court,  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  in  or- 


174  POLITICS   FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

der  that  that  court  shall  decide  whether  your  arrest  and 
confinement  were  properly  made,  and  for  sufficiently 
probable  cause. 

371.  You  have  a  right  to  a  speedy  trial  by  jury,  to  be 
confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  you,  to  engage  a 
competent  person  for  your  defense,  and  to  know  at  once 
and  definitely,  before  your  arrest,  what  you  are  charged 
with. 

372.  Tou  have  a  right  to  appeal  to  the  proper  court 
for  protection  to  your  person  and  property ;  and  if  the 
constituted  authorities  fail  to  protect  you,  you  have  a 
right  to  damages  for  their  neglect. 

373.  You  have  a  right  to.  be  secure  in  your  house 
against  searches  by  officers  of  the  law,  except  on  proper 
warrant,  which  must  first  be  shown  you,  and  for  sufficient 
cause. 

374.  You  have  a  right  to  keep  and  bear  arms,  but  not, 
in  most  of  our  states,  to  carry  them  concealed  upon  your 
person. 

375.  You  have  a  right  to  sue  for  damages  any  officer 
of  the  law  who  arrests  or  tries  you  in  an  unlawful  man- 
ner. 

376.  These  are  the  sacred  and  inalienable  rights  of 
all  American  citizens,  and  no  constitution  or  law  can 
deprive  him  of  them.     They  make  him  secure  against 
unjust  or  usurping  rulers,  and  against  unscrupulous  at- 
tacks from  a  fellow-citizen.     They  enable  the  citizen  to 
be  safe  against  injustice,  or  to  obtain,  by  summary  or  im- 
mediate methods,  redress  against  unjust  attacks.    They 
are  possessed  by  all  the  people — women  and  children  as 
well  as  men. 


OF  THE  DUTIES   OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITIZEN. 


XXXVI. 

OF  THE  DUTIES  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITIZEN. 

377.  If  yon  have  political  rights  of  which,  even  by 
your  own  will,  you  can  not  divest  yourself,  and  which 
are  therefore  properly  called  inalienable,  so  you  have 
political  duties  which  also  you  can  not  justly  neglect  or 
lay  aside. 

378.  It  is  your  duty  as  an  American  citizen  to  obey 
the  laws,  even  if  they  are,  in  your  belief,  unjust  or  un- 
wise.    General  Grant  once  shrewdly  said  that  the  best 
way  to  procure  the  repeal  of  an  unjust  or  unwise  law 
was  to  rigorously  enforce  it.     It  is  your  right  to  expose 
the  folly  or  injustice  of  a  law,  to  demand  its  repeal,  and 
to  try  to  get  a  majority  to  repeal  it.     But  while  it  re- 
mains a  law,  you  are  to  obey  it. 

379.  It  is  your  duty,  if  you  are  of  age  and  a  man,  to 
vote  at  all  elections,  and  to  inform  yourself  beforehand 
what  measures  and  men  you  ought  as  a  good  citizen  to 
support. 

380.  It  is  your  duty  to  insist  upon  the  prompt  execu- 
tion of  the  laws ;  to  be  ready,  even  at  much  personal  in- 
convenience, to  aid  in  their  enforcement,  if  you  are  called 
upon  by  proper  officers;  and  to  resent  with  indignation 
every  sign  of  lawlessness  and  violence,  and  require  its 
vigorous  suppression.      For  instance,  if  a  riot  should 
break  out  in  a  city  where  you  are  living,  you  are  not  to 
go  out  of  town  until  it  subsides ;  but  you  are  to  hasten 


176  POLITICS  FOR  YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

to  offer  your  support  to  the  authorities,  and  to  require 
their  prompt  and  decisive  action  to  restore  order. 

381.  It  is  your  duty — if  you  are  a  voter — to  serve,  when 
called  on,  as  a  grand  or  petit  juror;  and  this  at  even  great 
inconvenience. 

382.  It  is  your  duty,  if  you  are  a  man,  to  serve  in  the 
militia,  if  the  law  commands  it;  and  every  American 
voter  ought  to  have  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  man- 
ual and  use  of  arms  to  enable  him  to  act  efficiently  if 
called  out  as  part  of  the  posse  comitatus  to  put  down  a 
riot. 

383.  It  is  your  duty  to  act  generally  with  some  polit- 
ical party,  and  to  exert  your  influence  upon  its  leaders  to 
induce  the  nomination  of  capable  and  honest  men  for 
office.     And  it  is  your  duty,  if  your  party  nominates  a 
bad  man,  to  vote  against  him,  and  thus  keep  the  public 
and  general  good  before  your  eyes,  and  set  an  example 
of  true  public  spirit  before  your  fellows. 

384.  It  is  your  duty  to  watch  the  conduct  of  public  of- 
ficers, to  see  that  they  perform  their  duties  and  observe 
their  constitutional  limitations ;  and  if  they  do  not,  then 
it  is  your  duty  to  help  to  expose  them,  and  at  the  elec- 
tions to  punish  them.     For  it  is  only  by  such  vigilance 
that  a  nation  can  preserve  its  liberties  unimpaired. 

385.  These  are  your  political  duties,  which  you  can 
not  neglect  or  abjure  without  disgrace  to  yourself  and 
harm  to  the  country. 


OF   TRIAL   BY  JURY.  177 


XXXVII. 

OF  TRIAL  BY  JURY. 

386.  When  a  crime  or  an  offense  has  been  committed, 
and  the  police  officers  have  arrested  the  person  suspected 
of  it,  the  prosecuting  officer  collects  the  evidence  against 
him,  and  upon  the  meeting  of  the  grand  jury  lays  it  before 
them  in  the  form  of  an  indictment.    They  investigate  the 
charge ;  call  witnesses  before  them  if  they  wish,  and  if 
they  have  reason  to  believe  guilt  probable,  they  return 
the  indictment  with  the  indorsement,  "A  true  bill."     If 
they  believe  that  the  charges  are  not  sustained,  they 
make  return  "  Not  a  true  bill,"  whereupon  the  person  is 
released ;  but  he  may  be  rearrested  if,  subsequently,  new 
evidence  is  found  against  him. 

387.  The  grand  jury  is  a  body  of  responsible  citizens, 
usually  twenty-three  in  number,  selected  under  the  eye 
of  the  court.     We  have,  of  course,  grand  juries  for  the 
Federal  as  well  as  for  the  state  courts.     Their  authority 
to  investigate  crimes  and  offenses  is  not  limited  to  cases 
laid  before  them  by  the  prosecuting  officer;    they  may 
make  independent  investigations,  and  if  they  find  guilt 
or  blame,  may  make  what  is  called  a  presentment,  which 
may  thereupon  be  followed  by  an  indictment,  and  this 
by  trial.     Upon  the  meeting  of  the  grand  jury,  it  is  usu- 
al for  the  court  to  instruct  them  in  their  duties,  and  it 
may  also  direct  their  especial  attention  to  notorious  of- 

II  <2 


178  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

fenses.     All  their  proceedings  are  secret,  and  the  oath 
the  grand  jurors  take  makes  secrecy  a  duty. 

388.  The  object  of  a  grand  jury  is  to  prevent  injustice. 
If  the  prosecuting  attorney  were  alone  empowered  to 
bring  offenders  to  trial,  he  might  either  misuse  this  pow- 
er for  purposes  of  revenge,  and  thus  annoy  and  disgrace 
innocent  persons;  or  he  might  be  bribed  to  withhold  an 
indictment,  and  thus  favor  the  escape  from  justice  of 
wealthy  or  powerful  criminals.    The  powers  of  the  grand 
jury  are  a  check  upon  him ;  and  their  number,  and  the 
care  usually  taken  to  select  only  responsible  and  well- 
known  citizens,  makes  the  corruption  of  a  grand  jury 
improbable.     The  grand  jury  has  power  to  compel  the 
attendance  of  witnesses. 

389.  When  a  person  charged  with  a  crime  or  an  offense 
is  brought  to  trial,  it  is  before  a  petit  jury.     The  judge 
is  not  allowed  to  decide  upon  the  guilt  or  innocence  of 
the  prisoner — for  he  might  be  prejudiced,  or  unduly  in- 
fluenced ;  twelve  men,  chosen  from  a  numerous  list  of 
citizens,  are  appointed  to  hear  the  evidence,  and  to  de- 
clare upon  the  question  of  guilt.     In  selecting  a  jury, 
the  accused,  and  the  plaintiff  or  the  prosecuting  attorney, 
have  a  right  to  "  challenge"  or  object  to  a  certain  number 
peremptorily,  or  without  giving  reasons,  and  they  may  ob- 
ject to  others  if  they  can  show  that  these  are  prejudiced. 
The  judge  attends  to  the  pleadings  of  the  lawyers ;  takes 
care  that  witnesses  are  properly  sworn  and  examined;  and, 
in  his  summing  up  to  the  jury,  points  out  to  them  if  the 
counsel  on  either  side  have  made  unsupported  assertions, 
instructs  the  jury  in  their  duty,  and  endeavors  to  clear 
the  case  of  all  extraneous  matter ;  his  charge  is  of  course 
without  bias  or  favor.      Thereupon  the  jury  retire  to 


OF  TRIAL  BY  JURY.  179 

deliberate;  and  if  they  can  unanimously  agree,  their 
foreman  announces  the  verdict.  The  judge  then  deliv- 
ers the  sentence,  as  provided  by  the  law.  "When  an  ac- 
cused person  has  been  regularly  acquitted  by  the  verdict 
of  a  jury,  he  can  not  again  be  brought  to  trial  for  the 
same  offense. 

390.  Now  you  can  see  that  it  is  highly  important,  for 
the  cause  of  justice  and  public  order  and  morality,  that 
both  the  grand  and  petit  juries  shall  be  composed  of  in- 
telligent and  upright  citizens ;  otherwise  crime  will  go 
unpunished,  and  society  will  suffer  in  a  way  not  easily 
repairable.  Bear  in  mind,  therefore,  that  to  serve  on  a 
jury  is  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  an  American 
citizen — a  duty  which  he  can  not  avoid  without  wrong- 
ing the  community  of  which  he  is  a  part. 


180  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG   AMERICANS. 


XXXVIII. 

THE  PRIMARY  MEETING  AND   THE   CAUCUS. 

391.  Party  management  begins  in  the  townships  and 
wards,  and  with  the  action  of  the  body  of  members  of 
the  party  in  these  districts.     The  primary  meeting  is  the 
place  where  all  the  members  of  the  political  party  may 
express  their  will,  and  where  they  choose  delegates  to 
the  larger  bodies  called  nominating  conventions.     If  it 
were  convenient,  all  the  members  of  the  party  in  a 
county  might  meet  in  one  place,  to  select  delegates  or 
to  nominate  candidates ;  and  in  New  Jersey  and  some 
other  states  this  was  formerly  done.     But  the  township 
or  ward  primary  meeting  is  now  general,  because  it  is 
the  least  inconvenient.     The  primary  meetings  select 
delegates  for  the  county,  congressional,  and  state  con- 
ventions; and  these  delegates,  meeting  in  conventions 
on  an  appointed  day,  nominate  the  candidates  for  office. 
Any  person  who  is  a  voter  in  the  township  or  ward,  and 
at  the  next  preceding  election  is  known  to  have  voted 
with  the  party  holding  the  primary  meeting,  may  prop- 
erly take  part  in  it. 

392.  As  party  government  is  inevitable  and  necessary 
in  a  free  country,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  attend 
the  primary  meetings  of  the  party  with  which  he  acts. 
If  honest  and  intelligent  men  neglect  the  primaries,  they 
thereby  hand  the  control  of  their  party  over  to  bad  men. 
It  is  important  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  that  both 


THE  PRIMARY  MEETING  AND   THE  CA  UCUS.    181 

the  great  political  parties  shall  be  controlled  by  wise  and 
honest  men ;  for  a  corrupt  or  debased  minority  can  offer 
but  a  feeble  opposition  to  the  majority,  and  in  reality 
helps  to  strengthen  and  to  debase  the  majority;  whereas 
a  powerful,  honest,  and  intelligent  minority  compels  the 
majority  to  govern  carefully  and  honestly.  The  de- 
moralization of  the  party  which  is  in  the  minority  may 
thus,  as  you  see,  bring  calamities  on  a  country. 

393.  "  Politics  "  have  always  been,  in  every  free  state, 
an  enticing  profession,  followed  by  many  honest  and 
high-minded  men  out  of  a  desire  to  see  their  favorite 
principles  prevail;  by  other  men  to  advance  their  private 
fortunes ;  and  by  yet  others  from  a  mixture  or  combina- 
tion of  both  these  motives.     Our  own  politics  are  less 
corrupt,  and  our  own  politicians,  taken  as  a  class,  are  far 
more  scrupulous  than  those  of  most  free  nations  have 
been,  either  in  ancient  or  modern  times.     When,  there- 
fore, men  talk  or  write  about  the  peculiar  debasement  of 
our  politics,  you  need  not  entirely  believe  them.     There 
is  a  good  deal  of  irritating  ignorance  and  some  corruption 
among  our  political  leaders,  but  not  nearly  as  much  as 
there  is  in  England  or  France ;  it  vexes  us  more  because 
we  meet  it  face  to  face.     The  truth  is  that  our  party 
politics  are  more  intelligently,  less  dishonestly,  and  more 
honorably  conducted  than  those  of  Great  Britain,  with 
which  we  are  oftenest  compared,  and  that  the  average  of 
political  morality  is  higher  in  the  United  States  than  in 
any  other  nation  in  the  world. 

394.  In  an  ideal  state,  the  people,  gifted  with  unfailing 
discernment  of  merit,  would  select  continually,  and  with- 
out prompting  of  any  kind,  the  wisest  and  ablest  men 
for  their  rulers;  and  these  rulers  would  devise  always 


182  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

the  most  beneficent  and  the  noblest  of  policies  for  the 
nation.  Practically,  however,  these  matters  are  managed 
somewhat  differently.  The  people  are  guided  more  or 
less  by  newspapers  and  by  political  leaders ;  men,  able 
or  the  reverse,  are  brought  into  political  life  by  careful 
management  of  their  friends,  or  of  the  higher  chiefs  of 
a  party,  who  are  always  on  the  lookout  for  capable  men 
to  help  them ;  platforms  are  studied  over  and  prepared 
by  small  coteries  of  politicians,  to  make  them  attractive 
to  the  people  and  conformable  to  the  principles  which 
the  party  desires  to  advance;  and — to  return  to  our 
primary  meetings — the  delegates  chosen  at  these  are  for 
the  most  part  selected  beforehand  by  the  political  man- 
agers of  a  county  or  district,  to  insure  the  nomination  of 
certain  candidates.  Thus  where  several  persons  desire 
a  nomination  for  the  same  place,  the  primary  meetings 
are  the  scene  of  the  strife  between  them  •  and  it  is  there 
that  good  citizens  may  defeat  a  corrupt  or  incapable 
candidate  in  their  own  party. 

395.  The  preparatory  work  which  I  have  described  to 
you  above  is  done  in  what  is  called  a  caucus — which 
is  simply  a  private  meeting  of  influential  politicians. 
Whether  the  caucus  shall  be  a  good  or  an  evil  thing  de- 
pends on  the  character  of  the  men  who  compose  it.  It 
is  a  method  of  political  action  used  alike  by  the  best  and 
the  vilest  politicians ;  the  wisest  and  most  necessary 
measures  of  the  last  twelve  years,  for  instance,  as  well 
as  the  basest  and  most  injurious,  have  been  discussed  and 
prepared  in  caucus  before  they  were  presented  to  the 
public ;  and  both  the  ablest  and  the  worst  of  our  polit- 
ical leaders  have  been  introduced  into  political  life,  and 
advanced  in  it,  in  these  silent,  secret,  but  not  therefore 


THE  PRIMARY  MEETING  AND   THE  CAUCUS.    183 

necessarily  evil  councils,  by  their  friends.  In  a  country 
where  intelligence  is  so  widely  diffused,  and  where  there 
is  so  high  an  average  of  ability,  it  is  very  seldom  that  a 
man,  except  after  long  and  brilliant  service,  becomes  so 
conspicuously  the  one  man  for  the  place  that  his  party 
retains  him  as  a  matter  of  course. 

396.  A  fault  in  our  political  arrangements  makes  the 
caucus  very  often,  in  the  hands  of  bad  men,  an  instru- 
ment for  elevating  corrupt  men  to  power.  This  is  the 
practice,  in  the  states  arid  cities,  of  electing  a  great  many 
of  the  executive  officers.  Where  this  is  done,  the  cau- 
cus enables  corruptionists  to  prepare  a  ticket  composed 
of  a  few  good  men  and  a  large  tail  of  the  lowest  class 
of  politicians,  and  such  a  "slate"  is  then  forced  upon 
the  party  as  "  the  best  thing  that  can  be  got."  The 
viler  kind  of  politicians  do  not  trouble  themselves  much 
about  a  Congressional  caucus ;  but  wherever  a  dozen  or 
twenty  candidates  are  to  be  nominated,  there  is  their  op- 
portunity. If  the  executive  head,  be  he  President,  Gov- 
ernor, or  Mayor,  has  the  selection,  appointment,  and  re- 
moval of  all  his  subordinates,  a  "  slate  "  becomes  impos- 
sible, and  the  caucus  is  no  longer  so  powerful  a  tool  in 
the  hands  of  bad  men.  In  some  of  our  states,  at  one 
time,  members  of  Congress  were  chosen  on  a  general 
ticket ;  that  is  to  say,  the  whole  Congressional  delega- 
tion of  the  state  was  voted  for  by  all  the  people  of  the 
state.  But  experience  showed  that  the  caucus  put  a  few 
good  men  and  a  multitude  of  bad  ones  on  the  same 
ticket ;  and  as  both  parties  did  this,  the  result  was  for 
evil  only.  It  is  sometimes  urged  that  if  the  President, 
Governor,  or  Mayor  has  unrestrained  power  to  appoint 
or  remove  his  subordinates,  he  will  appoint  bad  men. 


184:  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

But  even  the  decisive  check  of  the  Senate  does  not  al- 
ways suffice  to  prevent  the  appointment  of  conspicuously 
bad  or  incompetent  men ;  and  it  does  serve  to  conceal 
the  faults  of  a  ruler,  and  lessen  his  responsibility  to  the 
people,  in  a  mischievous  manner.  It  is  better  that  a 
President  or  Governor  or  Mayor  shall  show  his  charac- 
ter plainly  by  bad  appointments;  for  then  he  will  be- 
come hateful  to  the  people,  and  lose  his  chance  of  re- 
election, while  the  caucus  will  be  shorn  of  its  power  for 
evil. 

397.  Do  not  be  ashamed  or  afraid  to  meet  in  caucus, 
if  you  should  by  and  by  take  part  in  politics;  but  re- 
member that  bad  men  and  measures  may  be  defeated 
there  as  well  as  at  the  primary  meetings.  And  as  a 
sound  rule  for  party  action,  remember  that  if,  in  spite  of 
your  efforts,  your  party  nominates  a  bad  man  for  office, 
you  should  openly  vote  against  him.  For  it  is  better,  for 
your  party's  interest,  that  it  should  be  defeated  if  it  nom- 
inates bad  men  than  that  it  should  succeed.  When  a 
political  party  becomes  the  tool  of  corrupt  or  ignorant 
men,  it  is  in  danger,  not  of  a  temporary,  but  of  a  lasting 
defeat.  If  both  parties  nominate  bad  men  for  an  office, 
it  is  better  that  your  own  party  should  be  defeated ;  for 
it  is  not  in  that  case  responsible  for  the  misgovernment, 
and  your  party  leaders  may  learn  wisdom  from  defeat. 
Hence,  the  more  ardently  you  desire  the  success  of  your 
political  party,  the  more  vigorously  you  may  scratch  the 
bad  names  off  your  ticket  when  you  go  to  the  polls. 


OF  THE  DUTY  OF  THE  MINORITY.  185 


XXXIX. 

OF  THE  IMPORTANCE  AND  DUTY  OF  THE 
MINORITY. 

398.  The  first  duty  of  a  minority  is  to  become  a  ma- 
jority. 

399.  A  minority  is  just  as  likely  to  be  right  as  a  ma- 
jority; and  if  it  is,  and  if  it  persists  in  asserting  its 
principles,  and  if  its  leaders  are  able  enough  to  frame 
a  practical  and  constitutional  policy,  and  to  meet  their 
opponents  in  argument  before  the  people,  it  will  by  and 
by  find  itself  in  the  majority.     For  "  the  people,  right- 
ly instructed,  always  favor  the  right."     The  long  course 
of  the  anti-slavery  discussion  showed  this.     The  first 
anti-slavery  men  were  not  practical  politicians,  but  mor- 
alists;   they   demanded   immediate   and   unconditional 
emancipation,  because  slavery  was  unjust,  and  injustice 
ought  at  any  price  to  be  removed.     These   excellent 
men  had  but  little  direct  influence  on  practical  politics 
— for  the  answer  to  their  appeal  was  that  the  Constitu- 
tion forbade  interference  with  slavery  where  it  existed. 
What  they  did  was  to  advertise  to  the  people,  with  won- 
derful courage  and  pertinacity,  the  monstrous  wickedness 
of  slavery.     The  political  leaders  of  the  minority,  how- 
ever, seized    their   opportunity,  and  at  the  auspicious 
time  framed  a  policy  upon  the  slavery  question  which 
was    both    practical    and    constitutional.      They    said, 
"  We  will  not  touch  slavery  in  the  states  where  it  exists 


186  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

— that  would  be  unconstitutional ;  but  we  demand  that 
it  shall  not  be  extended  to  the  territories,  which  are  con- 
trolled by  the  Federal  Government."  With  that  policy 
they  appealed  to  the  people ;  and  as  it  was  both  right 
and  practical,  and  constitutional,  and  as  the  minority 
possessed  very  able  leaders,  who  freely  met  their  oppo- 
nents in  public  debate,  in  time  they  achieved  a  perfectly 
legitimate  political  victory. 

400.  A  minority  is  contemptible,  and  must  fail,  when 
it  has  neither  principles  nor  policy  to  oppose  to  the  ma- 
jority, but  relies  upon  abuse  of  its  opponents,  or  mere 
criticism   of  the  majority's  blunders.     For  in  such  a 
case,  unless  the  majority  is  extraordinarily  corrupt  or 
inefficient,  the  people,  seeing  no  principles  at  issue,  will 
condone  its  offenses,  and  maintain  it  in  power,  out  of  a 
conservative  spirit  which  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
qualities  in  a  free  people.     Nor  are  they  wrong  in  this ; 
for  if  the  minority  have  no  satisfactory  policy  or  princi- 
ples to  offer,  their  struggle  is  merely  one  for  place  or 
office,  with  which  the  people  have  but  little  sympathy. 

401.  In  general,  inefficiency  is  more  quickly  resented 
by  the  people  in  their  rulers  than   corruption,  unless 
that  assumes  the  dimensions  of  mere  vulgar  robbery, 
like  Tweed's  in  New  York ;  but  the  strongest  appeal  of 
a  minority  to  the  American  people  is  against  injustice; 
and  a  party  in  power  may  lose  an  election,  and  find  it- 
self suddenly  deserted  by  its  strongest  friends  among 
the  people,  on  such  an  issue  as  that  called  the  Poland 
Gag  Law",  which  was  bettered  to  attack  the  liberty  of 
the  press. 

402.  A  strong  and  able  minority  is  a  very  important 
part  of  a  legislative  body.     Its  office  there  is  to  exam- 


OF   THE  DUTY  OF   THE   MINORITY.  187 

ine  and  criticise  the  propositions  and  acts  of  the  party 
in  power;  to  scrutinize  its  expenditures;  to  expose  its 
inefficiency,  its  usurpations  of  power;  to  ridicule  its 
blunders ;  and  to  oppose  all  attempts  at  bad  legislation. 
Where  a  minority  is  strong  in  votes,  and  has  able  lead- 
ers, the  first  effect  of  its  vigilance  is  to  make  the  party 
in  power  more  careful  in  administration  and  legislation, 
and  thus  to  benefit  the  country ;  and  its  second  effect 
is  to  rally  to  its  side  the  most  independent  and  ablest 
members  of  the  majority,  and  thus — if  the  majority  is 
inefficient  or  corrupt — to  prepare  the  people's  minds  for 
a  change  at  the  elections. 

403.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  where  a  legislative  mi- 
nority lacks  ability  and  statesmanship,  and  offers  a 
merely  factious  or  trivial  opposition,  it  is  very  apt  to 
fall  into  contempt  with  the  people,  and  to  injure  its  own 
prospects  of  political  success. 


188  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XL. 

OF  CITY  GOVERNMENTS. 

404.  A  city  is  a  political  corporation,  created  by  the 
state,  and  governed  according  to  a  charter  framed  by  the 
state  Legislature,  and  which  may  be  altered  or  repealed 
by  that  body  at  will.     This  charter  prescribes  the  duties 
and  defines  the  powers  of  the  rulers,  just  as  any  other 
political  constitution  does. 

405.  In  our  political  system  cities  have  become  the 
strongholds  of  misrule.     This  arises  from  two  causes: 
first,  the  city  government  concerns  itself  more  intimate- 
ly with  the  lives  of  the  inhabitants  than  any  other, 
wherefore  there  is  a  proportionately  greater  possibility  of 
corruption  and  maladministration ;  second,  city  charters, 
almost  without  exception,  subdivide  power  and  respon- 
sibility among  boards  or  commissions,  and  thus  disable 
the  people  from  discovering  the  authors  of  corruption 
and  misrule,  and  from  punishing  them  even  if  they  are 
known. 

406.  The  inhabitants  of  a  city  depend  upon  their  cen- 
tral political  authorities  to  make,  repair,  and  clean  the 
streets,  to  regulate  the  police,  to  abate  nuisances,  to  pro- 
tect them  against  fires,  to  adopt  and  enforce  health  regu- 
lations, to  grant  licenses  to  sell  liquor,  to  provide  public 
markets,  to  regulate  street  cars  and  gas-pipes,  to  care  for 
the  water  supply,  to  manage  the  parks  and  other  public 
places,  to  take  charge  of  paupers,  to  control  hospitals,  to 


OF  CITY  GOVERNMENTS.  189 

manage  the  free  schools,  to  control  wharves  and  piers  if 
it  is  a  sea-port,  and  to  do  a  number  of  other  things,  of 
which  some,  outside  of  cities,  are  done  by  each  citi- 
zen for  himself,  or  by  the  private  enterprise  of  citizens 
united  for  the  purpose,  and  others  are  divided  among 
county,  township,  and  school-district  authorities,  each 
independently  and  directly  responsible  to  the  people. 
Moreover,  all  public  work  in  a  city  is  on  a  large  scale, 
and  involves  very  great  expenditures,  compared  with 
those  of  a  rural  county.  Finally,  the  population  of  a 
city  is  less  homogeneous  in  character  than  that  of  a 
rural  county ;  the  proportion  of  poverty  is  much  great- 
er ;  the  number  of  people  who  live  from  hand  to  mouth 
is  larger ;  the  average  of  comfort  is  lower ;  the  depend- 
ent part  of  the  population  is  more  numerous.  At  the 
same  time,  little  or  nothing  is  left  for  the  people  to  de- 
termine in  the  smaller  divisions — the  wards  and  school- 
districts  ;  and  they  are  thus  made  politically  ignorant. 

407.  Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  of  great  impor- 
tance that  the  central  power,  to  which  so  much  is  as- 
signed, shall  be  clearly  visible  to  the  people,  in  order 
that  they  may  always  and  easily  hold  it  responsible.  The 
entire  executive  power  and  responsibility  ought  to  be 
given  to  a  single  man — the  Mayor — because  then  every 
citizen  who  had  cause  of  complaint  would  know  whom 
to  blame.  The  Mayor  ought  to  have  the  appointment 
of  all  his  subordinates,  because  thus  only  can  he  hold 
them  to  their  duty.  The  executive  powers — that  is  to 
say,  the  enforcement  of  the  laws — ought  not  in  any  de- 
tail to  be  assumed  by  the  Council ;  for  this  is  a  most 
fertile  source  of  corruption.  The  Council,  which  is  the 
city's  legislature,  ought  to  be  a  numerous  body,  so  that 


190  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG   AMERICANS. 

each  councilman  or  alderman  should  be  personally 
known  to  his  small  constituency,  who  could  then  oblige 
him  to  care  for  their  interests,  and  punish  him  for  neg- 
lect or  corruption.  Finally,  the  courts  in  a  city  ought 
to  possess  a  very  high  character,  and  neither  judges  nor 
justices  of  the  peace  ought  to  be  elected,  but  should  be 
appointed — probably  by  the  Governor  of  the  state — and 
for  life  or  good  behavior,  and  they  should  have  large  sal- 
aries. With  such  a  system,  the  city  government  would 
be  amenable  at  all  times  to  the  will  of  the  inhabitants, 
who  could  punish  extravagance,  inefficiency,  or  any  kind 
of  maladministration,  at  the  elections,  if  they  chose  ;  and 
could  at  any  rate  make  as  good  a  government  as  they 
wished.  Moreover,  I  want  you  to  remember  that  where 
great  power  is  given  to  an  executive,  able  men  like  the 
place,  and  will  seek  it ;  for  able  men  like  to  exercise 
power.  But  if  you  make  of  a  governor  or  mayor  only 
a  figure-head,  and  give  the  real  power  to  others,  the  of- 
fice falls  into  contempt. 

408.  Now  almost  all  our  city  governments  in  this  coun- 
try are  framed  on  principles  directly  contrary  to  those  I 
have  stated  above.  The  executive  powers,  which  ought 
to  be  concentrated  in  a  Mayor,  are  divided  among  dif- 
ferent boards  and  commissions,  and  are  thus  frittered 
away.  The  Council  is  usually  a  small  body ;  the  judges 
and  justices  of  peace  are  elected,  together  with  a  large 
number  of  executive  officers ;  the  different  parts  of  the 
executive  hold  office  for  different  periods,  and  the  peo- 
ple can  never,  at  a  single  election,  remove  all  the  officers 
who  have  been  concerned  in  maladministration ;  and 
finding  themselves  thus  disabled,  and  compelled,  more- 
over, to  vote  for  a  great  number  of  officers  of  whose 


OF  CITY  GOVERNMENTS. 

character  and  fitness  they  can  not  inform  themselves, 
they  presently  lose  all  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  re- 
sign the  political  power  to  knaves  and  their  tools.  The 
Mayor  of  a  city  like  New  York,  did  he  have  the  powers 
which  belong  to  the  office,  would  have  authority  and 
patronage  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States ;  and  the  office  would  be  one  for  which 
the  ablest  citizens  would  strive.  But  if  he  has  no  power, 
or  but  little,  really  able  men  will  refuse  the  place. 

409.  City  governments  are  made  needlessly  cumbrous 
and   corrupt,  also,  by  performing  some    duties  which 
might  well  be  left  to  private  effort.     For  instance,  the 
fire-insurance  companies  could  manage  a  fire  depart- 
ment much  more  cheaply  and  effectively  than  a  political 
government.    Again,  the  question  of  licensing  drinking- 
shops  might  well  be  left  to  the  people  in  the  wards. 
Street-cleaning  could,  perhaps,  be  left  to  the  wards  also, 
though,  as  it  has  to  do  with  the  general  health,  this 
might  not  be  possible  unless  the  city  government  as- 
sumed not  only  the  inspection  of  streets,  but  the  punish- 
ment by  fine  of  those  ward  authorities  who  neglected 
this  duty.     Finally,  the  city  ought  not  to  own  market 
spaces,  docks,  piers,  or  other  property  used  by  private 
individuals.     The  city  government  should  exercise,  of 
course,  the  right  of  police  and  inspection,  but  it  can  not 
own   and   manage   such  property  either   profitably  or 
efficiently. 

410.  If  you  remember  what  you  read  about  Decen- 
tralization and  about  the  Responsibility  of  the  Execu- 
tive, you  will  see  the  way  in  which  city  governments 
may  be  reformed :  first  by  relieving  them  of  work  which 
they  can  not  do  well ;  and  next  by  fixing  power  and  re- 


192  POLITICS  FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

sponsibility  upon  the  Mayor.  What  is  wanted  is  to  en- 
able the  people  readily,  and  at  a  single  effort,  to  change 
the  whole  administration ;  then  they  can  really  punish 
maladministration — and  they  undoubtedly  will,  when- 
ever it  begins  to  oppress  or  offend  them.  For  the  mass 
of  the  people  are  vitally  interested  in  moderately  good 
government,  and  will  inevitably  get  it,  if  the  machinery 
of  government  is  so  arranged  that  they  can,  by  willing 
it  at  the  polls,  punish  the  inefficient  or  corrupt  rulers. 


SOME  FAULTS  IN  OUR  STATE  CONSTITUTIONS.    193 


XLI. 

OF  SOME  FAULTS  IN  OUR  STATE  CONSTITUTIONS. 

411.  It  is  a  grave  fault  of  most  of  our  state  constitu- 
tions that  they  allow,  and  in  some  cases  make  necessary, 
special  legislation.    By  this  is  meant  acts  specially  grant- 
ing privileges  to  particular  persons.    You  will  see,  if  you 
consider  for  a  moment,  that  where  such  grants  are  made, 
the  Legislature  becomes  subject  to  the  attack  of  cunning 
and  unscrupulous  men,  who  will  seek  privileges  injurious 
to  the  people ;  that  rival  corporations  will  oppose  each 
other  before  the  Legislature,  and  resort  to  bribery  to 
gain  their  ends  or  defeat  their  opponents ;  and  that  for 
perfectly  proper  objects  men  will  be  put  to  a  needless 
expense  and  trouble  to  obtain  a  special  charter. 

412.  Whatever  any  citizens  or  association  can  right- 
fully do,  they  may  do  under  general  laws,  equally  ap- 
plicable to  all  other  citizens.     Thus  every  state  should 
have  a  clearly  drawn  general  railroad  law,  and  other 
general  laws  under  which  all  kinds  of  corporate  enter- 
prises  could  be  prosecuted  without  the   necessity  for 
special  charters ;  and  the  Legislature  should  be  forbid- 
den in  the  Constitution  to  grant  or  to  entertain  any  ap- 
plication for  a  special  charter  of  any  kind  whatever. 

413.  It  is  another  grave  fault  of  most  of  our  state 
constitutions  that  they  interfere  with  the  power  of  the 
Governor  to  appoint  his  subordinates  in  the  executive 
department,  and  thus  weaken  responsibility,  and  cause 

I 


194  POLITICS   FOR    YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

confusion  in  the  government.  Every  where,  also,  the 
sheriff  is  elected  in  the  counties ;  whereas  he  ought  to  be 
appointed  by  the  Governor.  He  is  the  Governor's  lieu- 
tenant in  the  county ;  the  peace  officer,  who  in  case  of 
riot  or  public  disturbance  has  a  right  to  call  out  the 
body  of  citizens,  and  with  whom  in  all  such  emergen- 
cies the  Governor  communicates.  His  office,  which  is 
of  right  a  very  high  and  responsible  one,  is  now  de- 
graded, and,  having  large  fees  annexed  to  it,  it  has  long 
been  one  of  the  important  political  "  spoils." 

414.  It  is  another  grave  fault  in  almost  all  our  state 
constitutions  that  they  oblige  the  people  to  elect  the 
judges,  and  thus  debauch  the  courts,  and  lower  their 
tone  and  authority. 

415.  It  is  another  grave  fault  of  the  state  Constitutions 
that  they  restrict  the  power  of  the  people,  in  the  coun- 
ties and  townships,  to  refuse  to  license  drinking-shops, 
to  adopt  compulsory  education  regulations,  and  to  do 
other  things  for  which  they  ought  to  be   competent. 
Thus  the  Constitution  errs  in  making  too  rigid  the  gen- 
eral rules  under  which  the  people  are  to  live. 


OF  TERRITORIES,  MANIFEST  DESTINY,  ETC.     195 


XLII. 

OF    TERBITORIES,   PUBLIC  LANDS,    COLONIES,  AND 
MANIFEST  DESTINY. 

416.  One  of  our  greatest  and  most  important  political 
safeguards  lies  undoubtedly  in  the  possession  of  vast 
quantities  of  public  lands,  and  in  the  wise  and  liberal 
policy  under  which  these  lands  have  been  thrown  open 
to  settlement. 

417.  The  Federal  Government  is  the  original  owner 
of  waste  or  unsettled  lands  —  both  those  in  the  terri- 
tories and  those  which  lie  within  constituted  states.     It 
has  made  a  free  gift  to  every  state  of  a  large  quantity 
of  these  public  lands,  to  be  used  for  the  support  of  pub- 
lic schools  and  of  agricultural  colleges ;  it  usually  gives 
to  a  state  all  the  swamp  and  overflowed  lands  within  its 
bounds  which  were  public  or  Congress  lands ;  and  it 
gives  to  every  actual  settler  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
from  the  surveyed  lands,  free  of  cost,  except  the  trifling 
charges  for  proofs  of  actual  settlement  and  continued 
cultivation.     It  has  also,  within  a  few  years,  given  a 
great  quantity  of  land  to  railroad  companies,  on  condi- 
tion that  these   should   construct  and  work  railroads 
through  these  lands,  and  thus  open  them  to  settlement. 

418.  The  political  advantage  of  our  possession  of  so 
vast  a  quantity  of  wild  lands  lies  in  this,  that  it  leaves 
open  for  many  years  a  broad  field  for  the  exertions  of 
the  more  adventurous,  enterprising,  and  restless  part  of 


196  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

our  community.  A  hired  laborer  to  whom  the  condi- 
tion of  dependence  has  become  hateful  has  no  refuge  in 
a  thickly  settled  European  state  except  emigration  to  a 
distant  country,  and  abandonment  of  his  own  nationality. 
This  ought  not  to  deter  an  European  from  emigrating ; 
but  the  American  workman  is  happy  that  he  need  not 
leave  his  country,  but  may,  under  the  protection  of  its 
flag  and  laws,  settle  himself  on  the  public  lands,  and 
there,  with  very  little  capital,  achieve  independence  at 
least,  and  perhaps  more.  He  has  not  to  fear  unequal 
or  strange  laws;  for  the  farthest  Western  territory  is 
ruled  by  Congress  upon  well-defined  principles,  and  be- 
comes a  state  as  soon  as  it  has  acquired  a  sufficient 
population.  The  flag  which  floats  over  him  commands 
peace  and  order,  and  the  whole  power  of  the  Federal 
Government  is  ready  to  make  his  life  and  property  se- 
cure. 

419.  A  territory  is  organized  politically  by  permission 
of  Congress ;  its  Governor  and  other  executive  officers 
and  judges  are  appointed  by  the  President ;  it  has  a 
Legislature  which  enacts  laws  of  local  application,  but 
Congress  has  the  right  to  reject  any  of  these  acts.  The 
inhabitants  elect  a  delegate  who  represents  them  in  Con- 
gress, but  who  has  no  vote.  His  duty  is  to  tell  the 
House  in  which  he  sits  the  wants  of  his  constituents. 
When  the  people  of  a  territory  desire  to  form  themselves 
into  a  state,  they  are  allowed  by  Congress  to  frame  and 
adopt  a  Constitution.  This  they  present  to  Congress, 
for  its  scrutiny  and  approval ;  and  Congress  may  in  its 
discretion  reject  the  instrument,  and  thus  refuse  to  cre- 
ate the  state ;  and  from  this  decision  there  is  no  ap- 
peal, except  to  another  Congress.  Some  territories,  as 


OF   TERRITORIES,  MANIFEST  DESTINY,  ETC.    197 

Colorado,  have  applied  several  times  for  admission  as 
states.  The  people  of  a  territory  do  not  vote  for  Pres- 
ident. 

420.  Hitherto  we  have  been  fortunate  in  our  territo- 
rial acquisitions,  for  we  have  gained  land  encumbered 
with  but  few  inhabitants,  and  well  fitted  by  climate, 
soil,  and  other  natural  properties,  for  the  prosperous  set- 
tlement of  our  own  farmers  and  mechanics.     Thus  not 
only  our  laws,  but,  what  is  of  infinitely  greater  impor- 
tance, our  manners  and  customs,  have  been  easily  trans- 
ferred to  and  made  dominant  in  these  new  lands ;  and 
it  is  one  of  our  greatest  pieces  of  national  good-fortune 
that,  with  unimportant  local  differences,  we  are  still,  in 
spite  of  the  vast  extension  of  our  boundaries,  a  homo- 
geneous people — that  is  to  say,  a  nation  whose  parts  or 
elements  are  similar,  not  only  in  language,  but  in  hab- 
its, customs,  manners,  methods  of  thought,  and  modes  of 
action. 

421.  If  you  will  think  clearly,  you  will  see  that  what 
we  want,  for  the  future,  is  not  more  people,  but  more 
land.     If  we  should  receive  no  further  additions  of  pop- 
ulation from  Europe,  we  are  now  so  numerous  and  so 
prosperous  that  our  numerical  increase  will  be  very  rap- 
id.    But  we  shall  constantly  receive  great  numbers  of 
European   immigrants,  and   these,  who    readily   adapt 
themselves  to  our  customs,  are  a  welcome  addition,  and 
quickly  become  a  part  of  us.     For  their  descendants 
and  ours,  it  would  be  a  great  advantage  if  we  could  se- 
cure still  more  vacant  or  sparsely  settled  territory,  pro- 
vided that  these  new  lands  were,  by  their  climate  and 
productions,  fitted  for  settlement  by  our  own  people. 
When,  therefore,  people  use  the  phrase  "Manifest  Desti- 


198  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

ny,"  they  mean — if  they  reflect  at  all — not  that  we  ought 
to  or  could  without  hurt  to  ourselves  annex  indiscrimi- 
nately all  the  states  adjoining  us,  but  that  it  is  a  part 
of  our  natural  and  sound  policy  to  possess  ourselves,  for 
the  use  of  our  own  people,  of  all  the  waste  and  desert 
lands  lying  near  our  boundaries. 

422.  Plainly,  the  annexation  of  tropical  islands  like 
Cuba,  San  Domingo,  or  the  Hawaiian  group,  does  not 
fall  within  this  policy  ;  for,  1st,  these  countries  have  al- 
ready a  tolerably  dense  population.    2d.  This  population 
is  alien  to  ours  in  race,  and  in  all  its  habits  and  customs, 
as  well  as  in  language.     3d.  These  islands  are  not  suit- 
able to  make  homes  for  our  farmers  and  mechanics ;  on 
the  contrary,  their  products  are  grown  on  estates  where 
a  few  planters  employ,  at  very  low  wages,  great  num- 
bers of  rude  laborers,  and  need  but  a  very  few  intel- 
ligent mechanics — nor  could  their  industries  be  profit- 
ably pursued  in  a  different  way.     Finally,  the  people 
whom  we  should  have  to  accept  with  the  land,  in  annex- 
ing these  islands  or  the  thickly  settled  parts  of  Mexico, 
are  not  fitted  by  character  or  training  for  the  duties  of 
American  citizenship  ;   and,  as  they  occupy  the  land, 
there  would  be  but  a  slender  possibility  of  assimilating 
them  to  ourselves.    But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  could  not 
with  security  to  ourselves  refuse  them  political  rights,  if 
we  made  them  a  part  of  our  body  politic.     It  is  repug- 
nant to  our  political  theory  to  hold  territories  except 
with  the  expectation  of  their  speedily  becoming  states ; 
because  otherwise  local  self-government  would  be  im- 
paired, and  the  Federal  administration  would  unduly  in- 
crease its  patronage  and  means  of  corruption. 

423.  Thus,  as  we  want  land  and  not  people,  sound 


OF   TERRITORIES,  MANIFEST  DESTINY,  ETC.    199 

policy  tells  us  not  to  annex  territory  which  has  already  an 
independent  and  tolerably  dense  population.  But  sound 
policy  also  urges  us  to  cultivate  intimate  and  friendly 
relations  with  our  neighbors ;  and  this  we  can  do  with 
advantage  to  ourselves  as  well  as  to  them  by  establish- 
ing with  them  the  utmost  freedom  of  commercial  ex- 
change. Commerce  makes  sure  and  faithful  allies  ;  and 
if  we  were  wise  enough  to  establish  and  maintain  ab- 
solute free  trade  with  Canada  and  Mexico,  with  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  with  San  Domingo  and  Hayti,  and 
with  Cuba — if,  as  is  probable,  that  island  becomes  inde- 
pendent of  Spain — we  should  greatly  extend  our  own 
commerce,  and  should  have  the  use  of  all  these  countries 
without  the  responsibility  of  ruling  them.  We  should 
find  them  willing  and  faithful  allies  in  case  of  war; 
and  our  own  course  toward  them  would  preserve  them 
from  the  aggressions  of  European  powers.  In  this  way, 
I  would  like  you  to  believe,  we  should  best  fulfill,  if  not 
our  Manifest  Destiny,  what  is  of  greater  importance,  our 
.  Manifest  Duty,  toward  these  weaker  neighbors  of  ours. 


200  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 


XLIH. 

WHEN  WE  NUMBER  ONE  HUNDRED  MILLIONS. 

424.  The  larger  the  machine,  the  more  important  is  it 
that  it  shall  be  built  upon  sound  principles  of  mechan- 
ics, and  that  it  shall  be  carefully  managed  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  its  construction ;  for  a  break  in  a  ma- 
chine which  weighs  a  hundred  tons  and  moves  at  a  great 
speed  in  all  its  parts  is  more  disastrous  than  one  in  a 
hand-machine  whose  momentum  is  insignificant,  even  if 
its  speed  of  revolution  should  be  great. 

425.  What  is  true  of  a  piece  of  machinery  is  equally 
true  of  a  state  or  nation.     The  more  populous  it  is,  and 
the  more  extended  its  area,  the  more  un wieldly  it  be- 
comes, the  more  disturbing  is  every  friction  of  the  parts, 
and  the  more  vital  it  is  that  its  managers  or  rulers  shall  J, 
be  made  to  adhere  closely  to  the  principles  on  which  its* 
government  is  constructed. 

426.  The  fundamental  and  most  vital  principle  under- 
lying our  political  system  is  that  called  DECENTRALIZA- 
TION, by  which  the  duties  imposed  by  the  people  upon 
their  rulers  are  divided  among  several  distinct  govern- 
ments, each  acting  independently  in  its  sphere,  but  all 
subordinate  to  one  general  or  organic  law,  called  with 
us  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  so  arranged  as  to  work 
harmoniously  to  a  common  purpose. 

427.  You  have  seen,  in  other  sections,  how  this  divi- 
sion of  powers  is  regulated  in  our  political  system ;  and 


WHEN    WE  NUMBER  ONE   HUNDRED  MILLIONS.    201 

I  have  explained  to  you  that  it  has  clearly  defined  ob- 
jects :  namely,  to  leave  as  much  as  possible  to  the  pri- 
vate enterprise  and  ingenuity  of  the  people ;  to  leave  to 
them  also,  in  the  smaller  political  subdivisions,  the  direct 
management  of  their  minor  or  local  affairs,  and  thus 
to  train  them  in  independence,  self-government,  and 
public  spirit;  secondly,  to  enable  the  people  easily  to 
control  and  change  their  rulers  at  regular  elections,  and 
to  do  this  in  one  locality  without  necessarily  disturbing 
the  whole  country ;  thirdly,  to  give  the  people,  in  their 
different  subordinate  governments,  strongholds  against 
possible  usurpation  of  power  by  the  Federal  rulers,  and 
in  the  Federal  government  security  for  peace,  order,  and 
free  exchange  and  intercommunication  in  all  the  parts ; 
fourthly,  to  relieve  the  Central  or  Federal  government 
of  a  multitude  of  details,  the  control  of  which  would 
make  it  cumbrous,  inefficient,  and  tyrannical,  and  would 
dangerously  increase  the  patronage  of  the  Federal  rulers 
and  their  power  to  corrupt  the  people ;  and,  finally,  to 
enable  the  people  of  different  states,  counties,  and  even 
townships  to  determine,  each  locality  for  itself,  upon 
local  regulations  and  laws  suited  to  their  habits  and  cus- 
toms— all  of  which  laws,  however,  are  to  be  in  conform- 
ity with  the  Federal  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  Con- 
gress. 

428.  Thus  we  secure  uniformity  in  the  general  sys- 
tem, with  independence,  variety,  and  elasticity  in  details ; 
the  least  interference  with  personal  liberty,  combined 
witli  security  to  person  and  property. 

429.  We  Americans  enjoy  the  most  perfect  govern- 
ment in  the  world ;  and  we  owe  to  it  almost  all  the  bless- 
ings which  make  our  lives  exceptionally  happy.     Peace, 

I  2 


202  POLITICS  FOR   YOUNG  AMERICANS. 

liberty  to  a  degree  unknown  to  the  subjects  of  European 
powers,  free  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  all  our  fac- 
ulties, knowledge  and  intelligence  within  the  reach  of 
the  humblest  citizen,  security  against  injustice,  stability 
of  order — these  and  other  blessings  we  owe,  not  to  the 
rulers  we  choose,  but  to  the  form,  of  government  under 
which  we  live,  which  is  as  beneficent  in  what  it  leaves 
undone  as  in  what  it  does. 

430.  But  in  all  earthly  contrivances  there  is  a  tend- 
ency to  change;  and  it  has  been  noticed  that  as  we 
increase  in  population  there  is  an  increasing  propensity 
to  impose  more  upon  the  Federal  government,  and  to 
take  from  the  powers  of  the  local  governments.     This 
all  wise  citizens  ought  to  resist,  for  as  we  increase  in 
population  it  is  necessary  that  we  shall  even  add  to  the 
number  of  objects  over  which  the  people  shall  determine 
and  rule  in  their  local  governments ;  for  thus  only  can 
their  political  training  be  continued.     If  the  Federal 
army  should  always  be  held  ready  to  put  down  local  dis- 
orders ;  if  the  state  Legislatures  should  continue  to  un- 
dertake the  government  of  cities ;  if  the  Legislatures  or 
Congress  should  undertake  the  adoption  of  prohibitory 
laws ;  if  Congress  should  assume  the  charge  of  public 
education  and  the  control  of  corporations :  by  the  time 
we  number  a  hundred  millions  the  American  people 
will  have  far  less  public  spirit  and  far  less  capacity  for 
self-government  than  now. 

431.  It  is  in  this  direction  that  wise  citizens  will  strive 
to  guard  against  future  dangers.      The  inconveniences, 
the  temporary  maladministration,  and  above  all  the  ap- 
parent carelessness  with  which  the  people  condone  blun- 
ders in  their  public  servants,  need  not  give  you  occasion 


WHEN  WE  NUMBER  ONE  HUNDRED  MILLIONS.  203 

for  gloomy  forebodings.  Our  people  are  naturally  in- 
attentive to  minor  details  in  their  governments.  They 
forgive  much  to  their  rulers,  if  only  they  are  convinced 
that  these  have  an  honest  desire  to  serve  the  public. 
They  are  slow  to  lose  their  faith  in  old  public  servants, 
and  especially  in  a  political  party  which  has  once  se- 
cured their  confidence  by  conspicuous  good  service. 
Thus,  for  the  good  work  it  had  done,  the  Democratic 
party  was  maintained  in  power  long  after  it  had  become 
corrupt  and  inefficient;  and  no  doubt  the  Republican 
party,  its  successor,  will  in  like  manner  retain  the  public 
confidence  after  it  has  lost  all  proper  claim  to  it. 

432.  This  quality,  wnich  is  often  vexatious,  and  some- 
times causes  thoughtful  men  to  despair,  is  in  fact  a  most 
valuable  trait  in  any  people;  for  it  secures  what  is  of  the 
very  greatest  importance  in  public  affairs — STABILITY. 

433.  Change  is  so  great  a  curse  that  we  could  not  even 
abolish  so  great  a  wrong  as  slavery  without  great  tempo- 
rary suffering;  and  that  people  is  happiest  and  most 
likely  to  maintain  its  liberties,  and  to  be  prosperous, 
which,  by  natural  temperament,  dislikes  change,  and  can 
be  moved  to  it  only  upon  important  occasions  and  for 
clearly  and  even  pressingly  necessary  objects.    Stability 
of  laws,  stability  in  industry  and  business,  stability  of 
character  and  of  purpose  in  the  individual,  are  all  of  far 
greater  importance  than  the  most  brilliant  experiments 
in  government,  or  the  most  seductive  and  adventurous 
enterprises. 

434.  But — finally — bear  in  mind  that  NOTHING  is  STA- 
BLE EXCEPT  JUSTICE.     Unjust  and  unequal  laws  are  liable 
to  perpetual  change. 


APPENDIX. 


I.  ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION. 
H.  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 
IH.  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 
IV.  WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 


ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION. 


Articles  of  Confederation  and  Perpetual  Union  between 
the  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Say, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Providence  Plantations,  Connecti- 
cut, New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
and  Georgia. 

ARTICLE  I. — The  style  of  this  confederacy  shall  be  "  The  United 
States  of  America." 

ART.  II. — Each  State  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  in- 
dependence, and  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right  -which  is  not 
by  this  confederation  expressly  delegated  to  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled. 

ART.  III. — The  said  States  hereby  severally  enter  into  a  firm 
league  of  friendship  with  each  other,  for  their  common  defense, 
the  security  of  their  liberties,  and  their  mutual  and  general  wel- 
fare, binding  themselves  to  assist  each  other  against  all  force  of- 
fered to  or  attacks  made  upon  them,  or  any  of  them,  on  account 
of  religion,  sovereignty,  trade,  or  any  other  pretense  whatever. 

ART.  IV. — The  better  to  secure  and  perpetuate  mutual  friend- 
ship and  intercourse  among  the  people  of  the  different  States  in 
this  Union,  the  free  inhabitants  of  each  of  these  States — paupers, 
vagabonds,  and  fugitives  from  justice  excepted — shall  be  entitled 
to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  free  citizens  in  the  several 
States;  and  the  people  of  each  State  shall  have  free  ingress  and 
regress  to  and  from  any  other  State,  and  shall  enjoy  therein  all 
the  privileges  of  trade  and  commerce,  subject  to  the  same  duties, 
impositions,  and  restrictions  as  the  inhabitants  thereof  respective- 
ly ;  provided  that  such  restrictions  shall  not  extend  so  far  as  to 


208  APPENDIX. 

prevent  the  removal  of  property  imported  into  any  State,  to  any 
other  State,  of  which  the  owner  is  an  inhabitant ;  provided  also, 
that  no  imposition,  duties,  or  restriction  shall  be  laid  by  any  State 
on  the  property  of  the  United  States,  or  either  of  them. 

If  any  person  guilty  of,  or  charged  with  treason,  felony,  or  other 
high  misdemeanor  in  any  State,  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be 
found  in  any  of  the  United  States,  he  shall,  upon  demand  of  the 
governor  or  executive  power  of  the  State  from  which  he  fled,  be 
delivered  up,  and  removed  to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  his 
offense. 

Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given,  in  each  of  these  States,  to 
the  records,  acts,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  the  courts  and  mag- 
istrates of  every  other  State. 

ART.  V. — For  the  more  convenient  management  of  the  general 
interests  of  the  United  States,  delegates  shall  be  annually  ap- 
pointed in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  of  each  State  shall  direct, 
to  meet  in  Congress  on  the  first  Monday  in  November  in  every 
year,  with  a  power  reserved  to  each  State  to  recall  its  delegates, 
or  any  of  them,  at  any  time  within  the  year,  and  to  send  others 
in  their  stead  for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

No  State  shall  be  represented  in  Congress  by  less  than  two,  nor 
by  more  than  seven  members ;  and  no  person  shall  be  capable  of 
being  a  delegate  for  more  than  three  years,  in  any  term  of  six 
years ;  nor  shall  any  person,  being  a  delegate,  be  capable  of  hold- 
ing any  office  under  the  United  States  for  which  he,  or  another 
for  his  benefit,  receives  any  salary,  fees,  or  emolument  of  any  kind. 

Each  State  shall  maintain  its  own  delegates  in  any  meeting  of 
the  States,  and  while  they  act  as  members  of  the  committee  of 
the  States. 

In  determining  questions  in  the  United  States,  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, each  State  shall  have  one  vote. 

Freedom,  of  speech  and  debate  in  Congress  shall  not  be  impeach- 
ed or  questioned  in  any  court  or  place  out  of  Congress ;  and  the 
members  of  Congress  shall  be  protected  in  their  persons  from 
arrests  and  imprisonments  during  the  time  of  their  going  to  and 
from,  and  attendance  on  Congress,  except  for  treason,  felony,  or 
breach  of  the  peace. 

ART.  VI. — No  State,  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States, 


ARTICLES   OF  CONFEDERATION.  209 

in  Congress  assembled,  shall  send  any  embassy  to,  or  receive  any 
embassy  from,  or  enter  into  any  conference,  agreement,  alliance,  or 
treaty,  with  any  king,  prince,  or  state ;  nor  shall  any  person  hold- 
ing any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  the  United  States,  or  any  of 
them,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office,  or  title  of  any  kind 
whatever,  from  any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  state  ;  nor  shall  the 
United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  or  any  of  them,  grant  any 
title  of  nobility. 

No  two  or  more  States  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  confederation, 
or  alliance  whatever,  between  them,  without  the  consent  of  the 
United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  specifying  accurately  the 
purposes  for  which  the  same  is  to  be  entered  into,  and  how  long 
it  shall  continue. 

No  State  shall  lay  any  imposts  or  duties  which  may  interfere 
with  any  stipulations  in  treaties,  entered  into  by  the  United  States, 
in  Congress  assembled,  with  any  king,  prince,  or  state,  in  pursuance 
of  any  treaties  already  proposed  by  Congress  to  the  courts  of 
France  and  Spain. 

No  vessels  of  war  shall  be  kept  up  in  time  of  peace  by  any  State, 
except  such  number  only  as  shall  be  deemed  necessary,  by  the 
United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  for  the  defense  of  such 
State  or  its  trade ;  nor  shall  any  body  of  forces  be  kept  up,  by  any 
State,  in  time  of  peace,  except  such,  number  only  as,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be  deemed 
requisite  to  garrison  the  forts  necessary  for  the  defense  of  sucli 
State ;  but  every  State  shall  always  keep  up  a  well-regulated  and 
disciplined  militia,  sufficiently  armed  and  accoutred,  and  shall 
provide  and  constantly  have  ready  for  use,  in  public  stores,  a  due 
number  of  field-pieces  and  tents,  and  a  proper  quantity  of  arms, 
ammunition,  and  camp  equipage. 

No  State  shall  engage  in  any  war  without  the  consent  of  the 
United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  unless  -such  State  be  actually 
invaded  by  enemies,  or  shall  have  received  certain  advice  of  a 
resolution  being  formed  by  some  nation  of  Indians  to  invade  such 
State,  and  the  danger  is  so  imminent  as  not  to  admit  of  a  de-lay 
till  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  can  be  consulted ; 
nor  shall  any  State  grant  commissions  to  any  ships  or  vessels  of 
war,  nor  letters  of  marque  or  reprisal,  except  it  be  after  a  dcclara- 


210  A  PPENDIX. 

tion  of  war  by  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  and  then 
only  against  the  kingdom  or  state,  and  the  subjects  thereof,  against 
which  war  has  been  so  declared,  and  under  such  regulations  as 
shall  be  established  by  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled, 
unless  such  State  be  infested  by  pirates,  in  which  case  vessels  of 
war  may  be  fitted  out  for  that  occasion,  and  kept  so  long  as  the 
danger  shall  continue,  or  until  the  United  States,  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, shall  determine  otherwise. 

ART.  VII. — When  land  forces  are  raised  by  any  State  for  the 
common  defense,  all  officers  of  or  under  the  rank  of  colonel  shall 
be  appointed  by  the  Legislature  of  each  State  respectively  by  whom 
such  forces  shall  be  raised,  or  in  such  manner  as  such  State  shall 
direct,  and  all  vacancies  shall  be  filled  up  by  the  State  which  first 
made  the  appointment. 

ART.  VIII. — All  charges  of  war,  and  all  other  expenses  that 
shall  be  incurred  for  the  common  defense  or  general  welfare,  and 
allowed  by  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be  de- 
frayed out  of  a  common  treasury,  which  shall  be  supplied  by  the 
several  States,  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  all  land  within  each 
State,  granted  to,  or  surveyed  for,  any  person,  as  such  land  and 
the  buildings  and  improvements  thereon  shall  be  estimated,  ac- 
cording to  such  mode  as  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled, 
shall,  from  time  to  time,  direct  and  appoint.  The  taxes  for  pay- 
ing that  proportion  shall  be  laid  and  levied  by  the  authority  and 
direction  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States,  within  the  time 
agreed  upon  by  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled. 

ART.  IX. — The  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  have 
the  sole  and  exclusive  right  and  power  of  determining  on  peace 
and  war,  except  in  the  cases  mentioned  in  the  sixth  Article ;  of 
sending  and  receiving  embassadors;  entering  into  treaties  and 
alliances,  provided  that  no  treaty  of  commerce  shall  be  made 
whereby  the  legislative  power  of  the  respective  States  shall  be  re- 
strained from  imposing  such  imposts  and  duties  on  foreigners  as 
their  own  people  are  subjected  to,  or  from  prohibiting  the  exporta- 
tion or  importation  of  any  species  of  goods  or  commodities  what- 
soever ;  of  establishing  rules  for  deciding,  in  all  cases,  what  capt- 
ures on  land  or  water  shall  be  legal,  and  in  what  manner  prizes 
taken  by  land  or  naval  forces  in  the  service  of  the  United  States 


ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION. 

shall  be  divided  or  appropriated ;  of  granting  letters  of  marque 
and  reprisal  in  times  of  peace ;  appointing  courts  for  the  trial  of 
piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas ;  and  establish- 
ing courts  for  receiving  and  determining  finally  appeals  in  all 
cases  of  captures ;  provided  that  no  member  of  Congress  shall  be 
appointed  a  judge  of  any  of  the  said  courts. 

The  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  also  be  the  last 
resort  on  appeal,  in  all  disputes  and  differences  now  subsisting  or 
that  hereafter  may  arise  between  two  or  more  States  concerning 
boundary,  jurisdiction,  or  any  other  cause  whatever ;  which  author- 
ity shall  always  be  exercised  in  the  manner  following :  Whenever 
the  legislative  or  executive  authority,  or  lawful  agent  of  any  State 
in  controversy  with  another,  shall  present  a  petition  to  Congress, 
stating  the  matter  in  question,  and  praying  for  a  hearing,  notice 
thereof  shall  be  given  by  order  of  Congress  to  the  legislative  or 
executive  authority  of  the  other  State  in  controversy,  and  a  day 
assigned  for  the  appearance  of  the  parties  by  their  lawful  agents, 
who  shall  then  be  directed  to  appoint,  by  joint  consent,  commis- 
sioners or  judges  to  constitute  a  court  for  hearing  and  determin- 
ing the  matter  in  question ;  but  if  they  can  not  agree,  Congress 
shall  name  three  persons  out  of  each  of  the  United  States,  and 
from  the  list  of  such  persons  each  party  shall  alternately  strike 
out  one,  the  petitioners  beginning,  until  the  number  shall  be  re- 
duced to  thirteen ;  and  from  that  number  not  less  than  seven  nor 
more  than  nine  names,  as  Congress  shall  direct,  shall,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Congress,  be  drawn  out  by  lot ;  and  the  persons  whose 
names  shall  be  so  drawn,  or  any  five  of  them,  shall  be  commission- 
ers or  judges,  to  hear  and  finally  determine  the  controversy,  so 
always  as  a  major  part  of  the  judges,  who  shall  hear  the  cause, 
shall  agree  in  the  determination  ;  and  if  either  party  shall  neglect 
to  attend  nt  the  day  appointed,  without  showing  reasons  which 
Congress  shall  judge  sufficient,  or,  being  present,  shall  refuse  to 
strike,  the  Congress  shall  proceed  to  nominate  three  persons  out 
of  each  State,  and  the  secretary  of  Congress  shall  strike  in  behalf 
of  such  party  absent  or  refusing;  and  the  judgment  and  sentence 
of  the  court,  to  be  appointed  in  the  manner  before  presented,  shall 
be  final  and  conclusive ;  and  if  any  of  the  parties  ahull  refuse  to 
submit  to  the  authority  of  such  court,  or  to  appear  or  defend  their 


212  APPENDIX. 

claim  or  cause,  the  court  shall  nevertheless  proceed  to  pronounce 
sentence  or  judgment,  which  shall  in  like  manner  be  final  and  de- 
cisive ;  the  judgment  or  sentence  and  other  proceedings  being  in 
either  case  transmitted  to  Congress,  and  lodged  among  the  acts 
of  Congress  for  the  security  of  the  parties  concerned ;  provided 
that  every  commissioner,  before  he  sits  in  judgment,  shall  take  an 
oath,  to  be  administered  by  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  or 
superior  court  of  the  State  where  the  cause  shall  be  tried, "  well 
and  truly  to  hear  and  determine  the  matter  in  question,  according 
to  the  best  of  his  judgment,  without  favor,  affection,  or  hope  of 
reward."  Provided,  also,  that  no  State  shall  be  deprived  of  ter- 
ritory for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States. 

All  controversies  concerning  the  private  right  of  soil  claimed 
under  different  grants  of  two  or  more  States,  whose  jurisdictions, 
as  they  may  respect  such  lands,  and  the  States  which  passed  such 
grants  are  adjusted,  the  said  grants  or  either  of  them  being  at  the 
same  time  claimed  to  have  originated  antecedent  to  such  settle- 
ment of  jurisdiction,  shall,  on  the  petition  of  either  party  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  be  finally  determined,  as  near  as 
may  be,  in  the  same  manner  as  is  before  prescribed  for  deciding 
disputes  respecting  territorial  jurisdiction  between  different  States. 

The  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  also  have  the 
sole  and  exclusive  right  and  power  of  regulating  the  alloy  and 
value  of  coin  struck  by  their  own  authority,  or  by  that  of  the 
respective  States ;  fixing  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures 
throughout  the  United  States ;  regulating  the  trade  and  managing 
all  affairs  with  the  Indians,  not  members  of  any  of  the  States ; 
provided  that  the  legislative  right  of  any  State,  within  its  own 
limits,  be  not  infringed  or  violated ;  establishing  and  regulating 
post-offices  from  one  State  to  another,  throughout  all  the  United 
States,  and  exacting  such  postage  on  the  papers  passing  through 
the  same  as  may  be  requisite  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  said 
office ;  appointing  all  officers  of  the  land  forces  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States,  excepting  regimental  officers;  appointing  all 
the  officers  of  the  naval  forces,  and  commissioning  all  officers  what- 
ever in  the  service  of  the  United  States ;  making  rules  for  the 
government  and  regulation  of  the  said  land  and  naval  forces,  and 
directing  their  operations. 


ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION.  213 

The  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  have  authority 
to  appoint  a  committee,  to  sit  in  the  recess  of  Congress,  to  be  de- 
nominated "  A  Committee  of  the  States,"  and  to  consist  of  one 
delegate  from  each  State ;  and  to  appoint  such  other  committees 
and  civil  officers  as  may  be  necessary  for  managing  the  general 
affairs  of  the  United  States  under  their  direction ;  to  appoint  one 
of  their  number  to  preside ;  provided  that  no  person  be  allowed 
to  serve  in  the  office  of  president  more  than  one  year  in  any  term 
of  three  years ;  to  ascertain  the  necessary  sums  of  money  to  be 
raised  for  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  to  appropriate  and 
apply  the  same  for  defraying  the  public  expenses;  to  borrow 
money  or  emit  bills  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  transmit- 
ting every  half-year  to  the  respective  States  an  account  of  the 
sums  of  money  so  borrowed  or  emitted ;  to  build  and  equip  a  navy ; 
to  agree  upon  the  number  of  land  forces,  and  to  make  requisitions 
from  each  State  for  its  quota,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
white  inhabitants  in  such  State,  which  requisition  shall  be  bind- 
ing ;  and  thereupon  the  Legislature  of  each  State  shall  appoint 
the  regimental  officers,  raise  the  men,  and  clothe,  arm,  and  equip 
them,  in  a  soldier-like  manner,  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States; 
and  the  officers  and  men  so  clothed,  armed,  and  equipped  shall 
march  to  the  place  appointed,  and  within  the  time  agreed  on  by 
the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled ;  but  if  the  United 
States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall,  on  consideration  of  circum- 
stances, judge  proper  that  any  State  should  not  raise  men,  or 
should  raise  a  smaller  number  than  its  quota,  and  that  any  other 
State  should  raise  a  greater  number  of  men  than  the  quota  there- 
of, such  extra  number  shall  be  raised,  officered,  clothed,  armed, 
and  equipped  in  the  same  manner  as  the  quota  of  such  State,  un- 
less the  Legislature  of  such  State  shall  judge  that  such  extra  num- 
ber can  not  be  safely  spared  out  of  the  same,  in  which  case  they 
shall  raise,  officer,  clothe,  arm,  and  equip  as  many  of  such  extra 
number  as  they  judge  can  l>e  safely  spared,  and  the  officers  and 
men  so  clothed,  armed,  and  equipped  shall  march  to  the  place 
appointed,  and  within  the  time  agreed  on  by  the  United  States, 
in  Congress  assembled. 

The  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  never  engage  in 
a  war,  nor  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  in  time  of  peace, 


214  APPENDIX. 

nor  enter  into  any  treaties  or  alliances,  nor  coin  money,  nor  regu- 
late the  value  thereof,  nor  ascertain  the  sums  and  expenses  neces- 
sary for  the  defense  and  welfare  of  the  United  States,  or  any  of 
them,  nor  emit  bills,  nor  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United 
States,  nor  appropriate  money,  nor  agree  upon  the  number  of  ves- 
sels of  war  to  be  built  or  purchased,  or  the  number  of  land  or  sea 
forces  to  be  raised,  nor  appoint  a  commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
or  navy,  unless  nine  States  assent  to  the  same ;  nor  shall  a  question 
on  any  other  point,  except  for  adjourning  from  day  to  day,  be  de- 
termined, unless  by  a  vote  of  the  majority  of  the  United  States,  in 
Congress  assembled. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  shall  have  power  to  adjourn 
to  any  time  within  the  year,  and  to  any  place  within  the  United 
States,  so  that  no  period  of  adjournment  be  for  a  longer  duration 
than  the  space  of  six  months,  and  shall  publish  the  journal  of  their 
proceedings  monthly,  except  such  parts  thereof  relating  to  treaties, 
alliances,  or  military  operations  as  in  their  judgment  require  se- 
crecy ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  delegates  of  each  State,  on 
any  question,  shall  be  entered  on  the  journal,  when  it  is  desired 
by  any  delegate ;  and  the  delegates  of  a  State,  or  any  of  them,  at 
his  or  their  request,  shall  be  furnished  with  a  transcript  of  the  said 
journal,  except  such  parts  as  are  above  excepted,  to  lay  before  the 
Legislatures  of  the  several  States. 

ART.  X. — The  committee  of  the  States,  or  any  nine  of  them, 
shall  be  authorized  to  execute,  in  the  recess  of  Congress,  such  of 
the  powers  of  Congress  as  the  United  States,  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, by  the  consent  of  nine  States,  shall,  from  time  to  time, 
think  expedient  to  vest  them  with ;  provided  that  no  power  be 
delegated  to  the  said  committee,  for  the  exercise  of  which,  by  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  the  voice  of  nine  States,  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  assembled,  is  requisite. 

ART.  XI. — Canada,  acceding  to  this  Confederation,  and  joining 
in  the  measures  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  admitted  into,  and 
entitled  to  all  the  advantages  of  this  Union ;  but  no  other  colony 
shall  be  admitted  into  the  same  unless  such  admission  be  agreed 
to  by  nine  States. 

ART.  XII. — All  bills  of  credit  emitted,  moneys  borrowed,  and 
debts  contracted  by  or  under  the  authority  of  Congress,  before  the 


ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION.  215 

assembling  of  the  United  States,  in  pursuance  of  the  present  Con- 
federation, shall  be  deemed  and  considered  as  a  charge  against 
the  United  States,  for  payment  and  satisfaction  whereof  the  said 
United  States  and  the  public  faith  are  hereby  solemnly  pledged. 

ART.  XTTT. — Every  State  shall  abide  by  the  determinations  of 
the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  on  all  questions  which 
by  this  Confederation  are  submitted  to  them.  And  the  Articles 
of  this  Confederation  shall  be  inviolably  observed  by  every  State, 
and  the  Union  shall  be  perpetual ;  nor  shall  any  alteration  at  any 
time  hereafter  be  made  in  any  of  them,  unless  such  alteration  be 
agreed  to  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  be  afterward 
confirmed  by  the  Legislatures  of  every  State. 

And  whereas  it  hath  pleased  the  great  Governor  of  the  world  to 
incline  the  hearts  of  the  Legislatures  we  respectively  represent  in 
Congress,  to  approve  of,  and  to  authorize  us  to  ratify  the  said  Ar- 
ticles of  Confederation  and  perpetual  Union,  Know  ye,  that  we, 
the  undersigned  delegates,  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  authority  to 
us  given  for  that  purpose,  do,  by  these  presents,  in  the  name  and 
in  behalf  of  our  respective  constituents,  fully  and  entirely  ratify 
and  confirm  each  and  every  of  the  said  Articles  of  Confederation 
and  perpetual  Union,  and  all  and  singular  the  matters  and  things 
therein  contained.  And  we  do  further  solemnly  plight  and  en- 
gage the  faith  of  our  respective  constituents,  that  they  shall  abide 
by  the  determinations  of  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled, 
on  all  questions  which  by  the  said  Confederation  are  submitted  to 
them;  and  that  the  Articles  thereof  shall  be  inviolably  observed 
by  the  States  we  respectively  represent,  and  that  the  Union  shall 
be  perpetual.  In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands 
in  Congress.  Done  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  ninth  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1778,  and  in  the 
third  year  of  the  Independence  of  America. 


CONSTITUTION 

OP  THE 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 


WE,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide 
for  the  common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain 
and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America. 


ARTICLE  I.— SECTION  1. 

1.  All  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives. 

SECTION  2. 

1.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of  members 
chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several  States ;  and 
the  electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for 
electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  Legislature. 

2.  No  person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have  at- 
tained to  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be 
an  inhabitant  of  that  State  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

3.  Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among 
the  several  States  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union,  ac- 
cording to  their  respective  numbers,  which  shall  be  determined  by 
adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons,  including  those  bound 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.      217 

to  service  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed, 
three  fifths  of  all  other  persons.  The  actual  enumeration  shall  be 
made  within  three  years  after  the  first  meeting  of  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  and  within  every  subsequent  term  of  ten  years, 
in  such  manner  as  they  shall  by  law  direct.  The  number  of  Rep- 
resentatives shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  thousand,  but 
each  State  shall  have  at  least  one  Representative ;  and  until  such 
enumeration  shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be 
entitled  to  choose  three ;  Massachusetts,  eight ;  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  one;  Connecticut,  five;  New  York,  six; 
New  Jersey,  four ;  Pennsylvania,  eight ;  Delaware,  one ;  Maryland, 
six ;  Virginia,  ten ;  North  Carolina,  five  ;  South  Carolina,  five ;  and 
Georgia,  three. 

4.  When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any  State, 
the  executive  authority  thereof  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill 
such  vacancies. 

5.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their  Speaker  and 
other  officers,  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

SECTION  3. 

1.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two 
Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  by  the  Legislature  thereof,  for  six 
years ;  and  each  Senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

2.  Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  consequence  of 
the  first  election,  they  shall  be  divided,  as  equally  as  may  be,  into 
three  classes.    The  seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first  class  shall  be 
vacated  at  the  expiration  of  the  second  year,  of  the  second  class  at 
the  expiration  of  the  fourth  year,  and  of  the  third  class  at  the  ex- 
piration of  the  sixth  year,  so  that  one  third  may  be  chosen  every 
second  year ;  and  if  vacancies  happen,  by  resignation,  or  otherwise, 
during  the  recess  of  the  Legislature  of  any  State,  the  executive 
thereof  may  make  temporary  appointments  until  the  next  meeting 
of  the  Legislature,  which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 

8.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have  attained 
to  the  age  of  thirty  years,  and  been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant 
of  that  State  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

4.  The  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President 

K 


218  APPENDIX. 

of  the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no  vote,  unless  they  be  equally  di- 
vided. 

5.  The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  also  a  Presi- 
dent pro  tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice-President,  or  when  he 
shall  exercise  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 

6.  The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeachments. 
When  sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath  or  affirmation. 
When  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice 
shall  preside ;  and  no  person  shall  be  convicted  without  the  con- 
currence of  two  thirds  of  the  members  present. 

7.  Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment  shall  not  extend  further 
than  to  removal  from  office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  en- 
joy any  office  of  honor,  trust,  or  profit  under  the  United  States ; 
but  the  party  convicted  shall  nevertheless  be  liable  and  subject  to 
indictment,  trial,  judgment,  and  punishment  according  to  law. 

SECTION  4. 

1.  The  times,  places,  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for  Sen- 
ators and  Representatives  shall  be  prescribed  in  each  State  by  the 
Legislature  thereof;  but  the  Congress  may,  at  any  time,  by  law, 
make  or  alter  such  regulations,  except  as  to  the  places  of  choosing 
Senators. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year,  and 
such  meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless 
they  shall  by  law  appoint  a  different  day. 

SECTION  5. 

1.  Each  House  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns,  and 
qualifications  of  its  own  members,  and  a  majority  of  each  shall 
constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business;  but  a  smaller  number  may 
adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized  to  compel  the  at- 
tendance of  absent  members,  in  such  manner  and  under  such  pen- 
alties as  each  House  may  provide. 

2.  Each  House  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedings,  pun- 
ish its  members  for  disorderly  behavior,  and,  with  the  concurrence 
of  two  thirds,  expel  a  member. 

3.  Each  House  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from 
time  to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may  in 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      219 

their  judgment  require  secrecy ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the 
members  of  either  House,  on  any  question,  shall,  at  the  desire  of 
one  fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered  on  the  journal. 

4.  Neither  House,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  shall,  without 
the  consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to 
any  other  place  than  that  in  which  the  two  Houses  shall  be  sit- 
ting. 

SECTION  6. 

1.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  receive  a  compensa- 
tion for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of 
the  Treasury  ofthe  United  States.     They  shall  in  all  cases,  except 
treason,  felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace,  be  privileged  from  arrest 
during  their  attendance  at  the  session  of  their  respective  Houses, 
and  in  going  to  and  returning  from  the  same ;  and  for  any  speech 
or  debate  in  either  House  they  shall  not  be  questioned  in  any 
other  place. 

2.  No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  time  for  which 
he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under  the  author- 
ity of  the  United  States  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the 
emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been  increased,  during  such  time ; 
and  no  person  holding  any  office  under  the  United  States  shall  bo 
a  member  of  either  House  during  his  continuance  in  office. 

SECTION  7. 

1.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the  House  of 
Representatives ;   but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  concur  with 
amendments,  as  on  other  bills. 

2.  Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives and  the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  becomes  a  law,  be  presented 
to  the  President  ofthe  United  States:  if  he  approve  he  shall  sign 
it,  but  if  not  he  shall  return  it  with  his  objections  to  that  House 
in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who  shall  enter  the  objections  at 
large  in  their  journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it.     If,  after  such 
reconsideration,  two  thirds  of  that  House  shall  agree  to  pass  the 
bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the  other 
House,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  ami  if  approved 
by  two  thirds  of  that  House,  it  shall  become  a  hrv.     But  in  all 
such  cases  the  votes  of  both  Houses  shall  be  determined  by  yeas 


220  APPENDIX. 

and  nays,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the 
bill  shall  be  entered  on  the  journal  of  each  House  respectively.  If 
any  bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President  within  ten  days 
(Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the 
same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless 
the  Congress,  by  their  adjournment,  prevent  its  return,  in  which 
case  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

3.  Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote,  to  which  the  concurrence  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary  (except 
on  a  question  of  adjournment),  shall  be  presented  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  before  the  same  shall  take  effect  shall  be 
approved  by  him,  or,  being  disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  re-pass- 
ed by  two  thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  and  limitations  prescribed  in  the  case  of  a 
bill. 

SECTION  8. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power — 

1.  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  to  pay 
the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defense  and  general  wel- 
fare of  the  United  States ;  but  all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  shall 
be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States ; 

2.  To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States ; 

3.  To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the 
several  States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes ; 

4.  To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform 
laws  on  the  subject   of  bankruptcies  throughout  the  United 
States ; 

5.  To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof  and  of  foreign 
coin,  and  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures ; 

6.  To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securi- 
ties and  current  coin  of  the  United  States ; 

7.  To  establish  post-offices  and  post-roads ; 

8.  To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by  secur- 
ing, for  limited  times,  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive  right 
to  their  respective  writings  and  discoveries ; 

9.  To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court ; 

10.  To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on 
the  high  seas,  and  offenses  against  the  law  of  nations ; 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.      221 

11.  To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and 
make  rules  concerning  captures  on  land  and  water ; 

12.  To  raise  and  support  armies,  but  no  appropriation  of  money 
to  that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years ; 

13.  To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy ; 

14.  To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the 
land  and  naval  forces ; 

15.  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws 
of  the  Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions ; 

16.  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the 
militia,  and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  em- 
ployed in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the  States 
respectively  the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the  authority 
of  training  the  militia  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by 
Congress ; 

17.  To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever 
over  such  district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  ces- 
sion of  particular  States  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become 
the  seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise 
like  authority  over  all  places  purchased  by  the  consent  of  the  Leg- 
islature of  the  State  in  which  the  same  shall  be,  for  the  erection 
of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock-yards,  and  other  needful  build- 
ings; and, 

18.  To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  pow- 
ers vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof. 

SECTION  9. 

1.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the 
States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  pro- 
hibited by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  eight,  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  impor- 
tation, not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  person. 

2.  The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  h<tbcn*  corjwa  shall  not  be  sus- 
pended, unless  when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public 
safety  may  require  it. 

8.  No  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  law  shall  be  passed. 


222  A  PPENDIX. 

4.  No  capitation  or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  pro- 
portion to  the  census  or  enumeration  hereinbefore  directed  to  be 
taken. 

5.  No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any 
State.     No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of  com- 
merce or  revenue  to  the  ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  another ; 
nor  shall  vessels  bound  to  or  from  one  State  be  obliged  to  enter, 
clear,  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

6.  No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury  but  in  conse- 
quence of  appropriations  made  by  law ;  and  a  regular  statement 
and  account  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public  money 
shall  be  published  from  time  to  time. 

7.  No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States ; 
and  no  person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them 
shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present, 
emolument,  office,  or  title,  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  king, 
prince,  or  foreign  state. 

SECTION  10. 

1.  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  confedera- 
tion ;  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal ;  coin  money ;  emit  bills 
of  credit;  make  any  thing  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in 
payment  of  debts ;  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or 
law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of 
nobility. 

2.  No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any 
imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or  exports  except  what  may  be  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  executing  its  inspection  laws;  and  the  net 
produce  of  all  duties  and  imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on  imports  or 
exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States ; 
and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision  and  control  of 
the  Congress.     No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress, 
lay  any  duty  of  tonnage,  keep  troops  or  ships  of  war  in  time  of 
peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  State  or 
with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded, 
or  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.      223 

ARTICLE  H.— SECTION  1. 

1.  The  Executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America.     He  shall  hold  his  office  during  the 
term  of  four  years,  and,  together  with  the  Vice-President,  chosen 
for  the  same  term,  be  elected  as  follows : 

2.  Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature 
thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of  Electors  equal  to  the  whole  num- 
ber of  Senators  and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be 
entitled  in  the  Congress;  but  no  Senator  or  Representative,  or 
pereon  holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  the  United  States, 
shall  be  appointed  an  Elector. 

Clause  3  has  been  superseded  by  the  12th  Article  of  Amendment*, 
given  under  the  head  of  Amendments. 

4.  The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  the  Elect- 
ors, and  the  day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes ;  which  day 
shall  be  the  same  throughout  the  United  States. 

5.  No  person  except  a  natural-born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution, 
shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  President ;  neither  shall  any  per- 
son be  eligible  to  that  office  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the 
age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  fourteen  years  a  resident  within 
the  United  States. 

6.  In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of  his 
death,  resignation,  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and  duties 
of  said  office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice-President ;  and 
the  Congress  may  by  law  provide  for  the  case  of  removal,  death, 
resignation,  or  inability,  both  of  the  President  and  Vice-President, 
declaring  what  officer  shall  then  act  as  President,  and  such  officer 
shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  disability  be  removed,  or  a  Presi- 
dent shall  be  elected. 

7.  The  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  services  a 
compensation,  which  shall  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished 
during  the  period  for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he 
shall  not  receive  within  that  period  any  other  emolument  from 
the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

8.  Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  shall  tako 
the  following  oath  or  affirmation  : 


224  APPENDIX. 

"I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute 
the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best 
of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States." 

SECTION  2. 

1.  The  President  shall  be  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and 
navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States 
when  called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States ;  he  may 
require  the  opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of 
the  executive  departments,  upon  any  subject  relating  to  the  du- 
ties of  their  respective  offices,  and  he  shall  have  power  to  grant 
reprieves  and  pardons  for  offenses  against  the  United  States,  ex- 
cept in  cases  of  impeachment. 

2.  He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  to  make  treaties,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  Senators 
present  concur ;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  ad- 
vice and  consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  appoint  Embassadors,  other 
public  Ministers,  and  Consuls,  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and 
all  other  officers  of  the  United  States  whose  appointments  are  not 
herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  established  by 
law ;  but  the  Congress  may  by  law  vest  the  appointment  of  such 
inferior  officers  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  President  alone,  in 
the  Courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  Departments. 

3.  The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that 
may  happen  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  commis- 
sions which  shall  expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

SECTION  3. 

He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  Congress  information  of 
the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  consideration  such 
measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient ;  he  may,  on 
extraordinary  occasions,  convene  both  Houses,  or  either  of  them, 
and  in  case  of  disagreement  between  them  with  respect  to  the 
time  of  adjournment,  he  may  adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he  shall 
think  proper ;  he  shall  receive  embassadors  and  other  public  min- 
isters ;  he  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and 
shall  commission  all  the  officers  of  the  United  States. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.     225 

SECTION  4. 

The  President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  officers  of  the  United 
States  shall  be  removed  from  office  on  impeachment  for,  and  con- 
viction of,  treason,  bribery,  or  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 


ARTICLE  HI.— SECTION  1. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested  in  one 
Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as  the  Congress  may 
from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The  Judges,  both  of  the 
Supreme  and  inferior  Courts,  shall  hold  their  offices  during  good 
behavior,  and  shall,  at  stated  tunes,  receive  for  their  services  a 
compensation,  which  shall  not  be  diminished  during  their  contin- 
uance in  office. 

SECTION  2. 

1.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases  in  law  and  equity 
arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and 
treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their  authority ;  to 
all  cases  affecting  embassadors,  other  public  ministers,  and  con- 
suls; to  all  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction ;  to  con- 
troversies to  which  the  United  States  shall  be  a  party ;  to  contro- 
versies between  two  or  more  States ;  between  a  State  and  citizens 
of  another  State ;  between  citizens  of  different  States ;  between 
citizens  of  the  same  State  claiming  lands  under  grants  of  different 
States ;  and  between  a  State,  or  the  citizens  thereof,  and  foreign 
States,  citizens,  or  subjects. 

2.  In  all  cases  affecting  embassadors,  other  public  ministers,  and 
consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  a  party,  the  Supreme 
Court  shall  have  original  jurisdiction.     In  all  the  other  cases  be- 
fore mentioned  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdic- 
tion, both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such  exceptions  and  under  such 
regulations  as  the  Congress  shall  make. 

8.  The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall 
be  by  jury;  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the 
said  crimes  shall  have  been  committed  ;  but  when  not  committed 
within  any  State,  the  trial  shall  be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the 
Congress  may  by  law  have  directed. 

K  2 


226  APPENDIX. 

SECTION  3. 

1.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only  in  levy- 
ing war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them 
aid  and  comfort.     No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason  unless 
on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on 
confession  in  open  Court. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of 
treason,  but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption  of  blood 
or  forfeiture,  except  during  the  life  of  the  person  attained. 


ARTICLE  IV.— SECTION  1. 

Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the  public 
acts,  records,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every  other  State.  And 
the  Congress  may,  by  general  laws,  prescribe  the  manner  in  which 
such  acts,  records,  and  proceedings  shall  be  proved,  and  the  effect 

thereof. 

SECTION  2. 

1.  The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges 
and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States. 

2.  A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or  other 
crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State, 
shall,  on  demand  of  the  Executive  authority  of  the  State  from 
which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the  State  having 
jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

3.  No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the 
laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any 
law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor, 
but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  serv- 
ice or  labor  may  be  due. 

SECTION  3. 

1.  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this  Union  ; 
but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  any  other  State;  nor  any  State  be  formed  by  the  junction 
of  two  or  more  States,  or  parts  of  States,  without  the  consent  of 
the  Legislatures  of  the  States  concerned  as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.      227 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all 
needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other 
property  belonging  to  the  United  States;  and  nothing  in  this 
Constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State. 

SECTION  4. 

The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union 
a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them 
against  invasion;  and,  on  application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of  the 
Executive  (when  the  Legislature  can  not  be  convened),  against 
domestic  violence. 

ARTICLE  V. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both  Houses  shall  deem 
it  necessary,  shall  propose  Amendments  to  this  Constitution,  or,  on 
the  application  of  the  Legislatures  of  two  thirds  of  the  several 
States,  shall  call  a  convention  for  proposing  Amendments,  which, 
in  either  case,  shall  be  valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as  part  of 
this  Constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  three  fourths 
of  the  several  States,  or  by  conventions  in  three  fourths  thereof,  as 
the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the 
Congress :  Provided,  that  no  Amendment  which  may  be  made 
prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight  shall  in 
any  manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  section 
of  the  first  article ;  and  that  no  State,  without  its  consent,  shall  be 
deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate. 


ARTICLE  VI. 

1.  All  debts  contracted  and  engagements  entered  into,  before 
the  adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the 
United   States  under  this  Constitution   as    under  the  Confed- 
eration. 

2.  This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which 
shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land ;  and  the  judges  in  every 


228  APPENDIX. 

State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  any  thing  in  the  constitution  or  laws 
of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

3.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the 
members  of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and 
judicial  officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several 
States,  shall  be  bound  by  oath,  or  affirmation,  to  support  this  Con- 
stitution ;  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  quali- 
fication to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States. 


ARTICLE  VII. 

The  ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States  shall  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the  States 
so  ratifying  the  same. 


AMENDMENTS   TO  THE   CONSTITUTION. 

ARTICLE  I. 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  re- 
ligion, or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging  the 
freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press ;  or  the  right  of  the  people 
peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  for  a  re- 
dress of  grievances. 

ARTICLE  H. 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a 
free  state,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not 
be  infringed. 

ARTICLE  III. 

No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in  any  house 
without  the  consent  of  the  owner ;  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a 
manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses, 
papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures, 


AMENDMENTS   TO  THE  CONSTITUTION.       229 

shall  not  be  violated,  and  no  warrants  shall  issue  but  upon  proba- 
ble cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly  de- 
scribing the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  persons  or  things  to  be 
seized. 

ARTICLE  V. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise  in- 
famous crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand 
jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the 
militia  when  in  actual  service  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger ; 
nor  shall  any  person  be  subject  for  the  same  offense  to  be  twice 
put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb ;  nor  shall  be  compelled  in  any 
criminal  case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself;  nor  be  deprived  of 
life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law ;  nor  shall 
private  property  be  taken  for  public  use  without  just  compensa- 
tion. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right 
to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and 
district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  dis- 
trict shall  have  been  previously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  in- 
formed of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation ;  to  be  confront- 
ed with  the  witnesses  against  him ;  to  have  compulsory  process 
for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the  assistance  of 
counsel  for  his  defense. 

ARTICLE  VH. 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall 
exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved, 
and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any 
Court  of  the  United  States  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
common  law. 

ARTICLE  Vin. 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed, 
nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of  certain  rights  shall  not 
be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 


230  APPENDIX. 

ARTICLE  X. 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Consti- 
tution, nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the 
States  respectively,  or  to  the  people. 

ARTICLE  XL 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed 
to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity  commenced  or  prosecuted 
against  one  of  the  United  States  by  citizens  of  another  State,  or 
by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  State. 

ARTICLE  XH. 

The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by 
ballot  for  President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom,  at  least, 
shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves ; 
they  shall  name  in  their  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  President, 
and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and 
they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  President, 
and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and  of  the  number 
of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  trans- 
mit sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  di- 
rected to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of  the 
Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be 
counted;  the  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  for 
President  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of 
the  whole  number  of  Electors  appointed ;  and  if  no  person  have 
such  majority,  then  from  the  persons  having  the  highest  numbers, 
not  exceeding  three,  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President, 
the  House  of  Representatives  shall  chpose  immediately,  by  ballot, 
the  President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall  be 
taken  by  States,  the  representation  from  each  State  having  one 
vote;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or 
members  from  two  thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the 
States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives shall  not  choose  a  President,  whenever  the  right  of 
choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of  March 


AMENDMENTS  TO   THE  CONSTITUTION.        231 

next  following,  then  the  Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other  constitutional  disability  of  the 
President.  The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as 
Vice-President  shall  be  the  Vice-President,  if  such  number  be  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number  of  Electors  appointed,  and  if  no 
person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the 
list  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice-President ;  a  quorum  for  the 
purpose  shall  consist  of  two  thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  Sena- 
tors, and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be  necessary  to  a 
choice.  But  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of 
President  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of  the  United 

States. 

AETICLE  XIII. 

1.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punish- 
ment for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted, 
shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place  subject  to  their 
jurisdiction. 

2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appro- 
priate legislation. 

ARTICLE  XIV. 

1.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  sub- 
ject to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States 
and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside.     No  State  shall  make  or  en- 
force any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of 
citizens  of  the  United  States ;  nor  shall  any  State  deprive  any  per- 
son of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due  process  of  law,  nor 
deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction  the  equal  protection  of 
the  laws. 

2.  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several  States 
according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole  num- 
ber of  persons  in  each  State,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed.      But 
when  the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for  the  choice  of  Electors 
for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  Represent- 
atives in  Congress,  the  executive  and  judicial  officers  of  a  State, 
or  the  members  of  the  Legislature  thereof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the 
male  inhabitants  of  such  State,  being  twenty-one  years  of  age.  and 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  except  for 
participation  in  rebellion  or  other  crime,  the  basis  of  representa- 


232  APPENDIX. 

tion  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the  proportion  which  the  number 
of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the  whole  number  of  male  citi- 
zens twenty-one  years  of  age  in  such  State. 

3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative  in  Congress, 
or  Elector  of  President  and  Vice-President,  or  hold  any  office,  civil 
or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under  any  State,  who,  hav- 
ing previously  taken  an  oath,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an 
officer  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  member  of  any  State  Legislat- 
ure, or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of  any  State,  to  support 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  shall  have  engaged  in  in- 
surrection or  rebellion  against  the  same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort 
to  the  enemies  thereof.    But  Congress  may,  by  a  vote  of  two 
thirds  of  each  House,  remove  such  disability. 

4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States,  author- 
ized by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pensions  and 
bounties  for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection  or  rebellion,  shall 
not  be  questioned.     But  neither  the  United  States  nor  any  State 
shall  assume  or  pay  any  debt  or  obligation  incurred  in  aid  of  in- 
surrection or  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  or  any  claim  for 
the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave ;  but  all  such  debts,  obliga- 
tions, and  claims  shall  be  held  illegal  and  void. 

5.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appropriate 
legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 

ARTICLE  XV. 

1.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall  not  be 
denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States,  or  by  any  State,  on  ac- 
count of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  ap- 
propriate legislation. 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE, 


IN  CONGEESS,  JULY  4,  1776. 

THE   UNANIMOUS  DECLARATION  OF  THE  THIRTEEN 
UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 


WHEN,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary  for 
one  people  to  dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  connected 
them  with  another,  and  to  assume,  among  the  powers  of  the  earth, 
the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  nature  and  of 
nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of 
mankind  requires  that  they  should  declare  the  causes  which  im- 
pel them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident :  that  all  men  are  cre- 
ated equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain 
unalienable  rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness  ;  that,  to  secure  these  rights,  governments  are  in- 
stituted among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed ;  that,  whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes 
destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  niter  or 
to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a  new  government,  laying  its  foun- 
dation on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form, 
as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happi- 
ness. Prudence,  indeed,  will  dictate  that  governments  long  es- 
tablished should  not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient  causes; 
and,  accordingly,  all  experience  hath  shown  that  mankind  arc 
more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  arc  sufferable,  than  to  right 
themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which  they  arc  accustomed. 
But  when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations,  pursuing  invari- 


234:  APPENDIX. 

ably  the  same  object,  evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  under  abso- 
lute despotism,  it  is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such 
a  government,  and  to  provide  new  guards  for  their  future  security. 
Such  has  been  the  patient  sufferance  of  these  colonies,  and  such  is 
now  the  necessity  which  constrains  them  to  alter  their  former  sys- 
tems of  government.  The  history  of  the  present  King  of  Great 
Britain  is  a  history  of  repeated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all  hav- 
ing in  direct  object  the  establishment  of  an  absolute  tyranny  over 
these  States.  To  prove  this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid 
world : 

He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome  and  nec- 
essary for  the  public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of  immediate  and 
pressing  importance,  unless  suspended  in  their  operations  till  his 
assent  should  be  obtained ;  and  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly 
neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  accommodation  of 
large  districts  of  people,  unless  those  people  would  relinquish  the 
right  of  representation  in  the  Legislature — a  right  inestimable  to 
them,  and  formidable  to  tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  unusual,  un- 
comfortable, and  distant  from  the  depository  of  their  public  rec- 
ords, for  the  sole  purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into  compliance  with 
his  measures. 

He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  repeatedly,  for  oppos- 
ing, with  manly  firmness,  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the 
people. 

He  has  refused,  for  a  long  time  after  such  dissolutions,  to  cause 
others  to  be  elected,  whereby  the  legislative  powers,  incapable  of 
annihilation,  have  returned  to  the  people  at  large  for  their  exer- 
cise ;  the  State  remaining,  in  the  mean  time,  exposed  to  all  the 
dangers  of  invasions  from  without  and  convulsions  within. 

He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  States ; 
for  that  purpose  obstructing  the  laws  for  the  naturalization  of  for- 
eigners ;  refusing  to  pass  others  to  encourage  their  migrations 
hither,  and  raising  the  conditions  of  new  appropriations  of  lands. 

He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice  by  refusing  his 
assent  to  laws  for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.       235 

He  has  made  judges  dependent  on  his  will  alone  for  the  tenure 
of  their  offices,  and  the  amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  and  sent  hither 
swarms  of  officers  to  harass  our  people  and  eat  out  their  substance. 

He  has  kept  among  us,  in  times  of  peace,  standing  armies,  with- 
out the  consent  of  our  Legislatures. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  military  independent  of,  and  su- 
perior to,  the  civil  power. 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdiction  for- 
eign to  our  Constitution,  and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws ;  giv- 
ing his  assent  to  their  acts  of  pretended  legislation  : 

For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us ; 

For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  trial,  from  punishment  for  any 
murders  which  they  should  commit  on  the  inhabitants  of  these 
States ; 

For  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world ; 

For  imposing  taxes  on  us  without  our  consent ; 

For  depriving  us,  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits  of  trial  by  jury ; 

For  transporting  us  beyond  seas  to  be  tried  for  pretended  of- 
fenses; 

For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a  neighboring 
province,  establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government,  and  en- 
larging its  boundaries,  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and 
fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same  absolute  rule  into  these 
colonies ; 

For  taking  away  our  charters,  abolishing  our  most  valuable 
laws,  and  altering,  fundamentally,  the  forms  of  our  governments; 

For  suspending  our  own  Legislatures,  and  declaring  themselves 
invested  with  power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here  by  declaring  us  out  of  his 
protection,  and  waging  war  against  us. 

He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts,  burned  our 
towns,  and  destroyed  the  lives  of  our  people. 

He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign  mercena- 
ries to  complete  the  works  of  death,  desolation,  and  tyranny,  al- 
ready begun  with  circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy  scarcely 
paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages,  and  totally  unworthy  the 
head  of  a  civilized  nation. 


236  APPENDIX. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow -citizens,  taken  captive  on  the 
high  seas,  to  bear  arms  against  their  country,  to  become  the  exe- 
cutioners of  their  friends  and  brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by 
their  hands. 

He  has  excited  domestic  insurrection  among  us,  and  has  en- 
deavored to  bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers  the  merciless 
Indian  savages,  whose  known  rule  of  warfare  is  an  undistinguished 
destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes,  and  conditions. 

In  eveiy  stage  of  these  oppressions  we  have  petitioned  for  re- 
dress in  the  most  humble  terms ;  our  repeated  petitions  have  been 
answered  only  by  repeated  injury.  A  prince  whose  character  is 
thus  marked  by  every  act  which  may  define  a  tyrant  is  unfit  to 
be  the  ruler  of  a  free  people. 

Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attentions  to  our  British  breth- 
ren. We  have  warned  them,  from  time  to  time,  of  attempts  by 
their  Legislature  to  extend  an  unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  us. 
We  have  reminded  them  of  the  circumstances  of  our  emigration 
and  settlement  here.  We  have  appealed  to  their  native  justice 
and  magnanimity,  and  we  have  conjured  them,  by  the  ties  of  our 
common  kindred,  to  disavow  these  usurpations,  which  would  in- 
evitably interrupt  our  connections  and  correspondence.  They, 
too,  have  been  deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice  and  of  consanguinity. 
We  must,  therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  necessity  which  denounces 
our  separation,  and  hold  them,  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind — 
enemies  in  war ;  in  peace,  friends. 

We,  therefore,  the  Representatives  of  the  UNITED  STATES  OF 
AMERICA,  in  General  Congress  assembled,  appealing  to  the  Su- 
preme Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do, 
in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  good  people  of  these  col- 
onies, solemnly  publish  and  declare,  That  these  United  Colonies 
are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  Free  and  Independent  States ;  that 
they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and 
that  all  political  connection  between  them  and  the  State  of  Great 
Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved ;  and  that,  as  Free 
and  Independent  State*,  they  have  full  power  to  levy  war,  conclude 
peace,  contract  alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do  all  other 
acts  and  things  which  Independent  States  may  of  right  do.  And 
for  the  support  of  this  Declaration,  with  a  firm  reliance  on  the 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.       237 

protection  of  DIVINE  PROVIDENCE,  we  mutually  pledge  to  each 
other  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor. 

JOHN  HANCOCK. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE. — Josiah  Bartlett,  William  Wbipple,  Matthew 
Thornton. 

MASSACHUSETTS  BAY.  —  Samuel  Adams,  John  Adams,  Robert 
Treat  Paine,  Elbridge  Gerry. 

RHODE  ISLAND,  ETC. — Stephen  Hopkins,  William  Ellery. 

CONNECTICUT. — Roger  Sherman,  Samuel  Huntington,  William 
Williams,  Oliver  Wolcott. 

NEW  YORK. — William  Floyd,  Philip  Livingston,  Francis  Lewis, 
Lewis  Morris. 

NEW  JERSEY. — Richard  Stockton,  John  Witherspoon,  Francis 
Hopkinson,  John  Hart,  Abraham  Clark. 

PENNSYLVANIA.  —  Robert  Morris,  Benjamin  Rush,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  John  Morton,  George  Clymer,  James  Smith,  George  Tay- 
lor, James  Wilson,  George  Ross. 

DELAWARE. — Caesar  Rodney,  George  Read,  Thomas  M'Kean. 

MARYLAND.  —  Samuel  Chase,  William  Paca,  Thomas  Stone, 
Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton. 

VIRGINIA. — George  Wythe,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, Benjamin  Harrison,  Thomas  Nelson,  Jr.,  Francis  Lightfoot 
Lee,  Carter  Braxton. 

NORTH  CAROLINA. — William  Hooper,  Joseph  Hewes,  John  Penn. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. — 'Edward  Rutledge,  Thomas  Hey  ward,  Jr., 
Thomas  Lynch,  Jr.,  Arthur  Middleton. 

GEORGIA. — Button  Gwinnett,  Lyman  Hall,  George  Walton. 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS 

TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

(SEPTEMBER  IT,  1796.) 

FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS: — The  period  for  a  new  elec- 
tion of  a  citizen  to  administer  the  executive  government  of  the 
United  States  being  not  far  distant,  and  the  time  actually  arrived 
when  your  thoughts  must  be  employed  in  designating  the  person 
who  is  to  be  clothed  with  that  important  trust,  it  appears  to  me 
proper,  especially  as  it  may  conduce  to  a  more  distinct  expression 
of  the  public  voice,  that  I  should  now  apprise  you  of  the  resolu- 
tion I  have  formed  to  decline  being  considered  among  the  num- 
ber of  those  out  of  whom  a  choice  is  to  be  made. 

I  beg  you,  at  the  same  time,  to  do  me  the  justice  to  be  assured 
that  this  resolution  has  not  been  taken  without  a  strict  regard  to 
all  the  considerations  appertaining  to  the  relation  which  binds  a 
dutiful  citizen  to  his  country ;  and  that,  in  withdrawing  the  ten- 
der of  service,  which  silence,  in  my  situation,  might  imply,  I  am 
influenced  by  no  diminution  of  zeal  for  your  future  interest ;  no 
deficiency  of  grateful  respect  for  your  past  kindness ;  but  am  sup- 
ported by  a  full  conviction  that  the  step  is  compatible  with  both. 

The  acceptance  of,  and  continuance  hitherto  in,  the  office  to 
which  your  suffrages  have  twice  called  me,  have  been  a  uniform 
sacrifice  of  inclination  to  the  opinion  of  duty,  and  to  a  deference 
for  what  appeared  to  be  your  desire.  I  constantly  hoped  that  it 
would  have  been  much  earlier  in  my  power,  consistently  with 
motives  which  I  was  not  at  liberty  to  disregard,  to  return  to  that 
retirement  from  which  I  had  been  reluctantly  drawn.  The  strength 
of  my  inclination  to  do  this,  previous  to  the  last  election,  had  even 
led  to  the  preparation  of  an  address  to  declare  it  to  you;  but 
mature  reflection  on  the  then  perplexed  and  critical  posture  of  our 


WASHINGTON'S   FAREWELL  ADDRESS.         239 

affairs  with  foreign  nations,  and  the  unanimous  advice  of  persons 
entitled  to  my  confidence,  impelled  me  to  abandon  the  idea. 

I  rejoice  that  the  state  of  your  concerns,  external  as  well  as  in- 
ternal, no  longer  renders  the  pursuit  of  inclination  incompatible 
with  the  sentiment,  of  duty  or  propriety;  and  am  persuaded, 
whatever  partiality  may  be  retained  for  my  services,  that,  in  the 
present  circumstances  of  our  country,  you  will  not  disapprove  my 
determination  to  retire. 

The  impressions  with  which  I  first  undertook  the  arduous  trust 
were  explained  on  the  proper  occasion.  In  the  discharge  of  this 
trust,  I  will  only  say  that  I  have,  with  good  intentions,  contributed 
toward  the  organization  and  administration  of  the  government 
the  best  exertions  of  which  a  very  fallible  judgment  was  capable. 
Not  unconscious,  in  the  outset,  of  the  inferiority  of  my  qualifica- 
tions, experience  in  my  own  eyes,  perhaps  still  more  in  the  eyes 
of  others,  has  strengthened  the  motives  to  diffidence  of  myself; 
and  every  day  the  increasing  weight  of  years  admonishes  me, 
more  and  more,  that  the  shade  of  retirement  is  as  necessary  to 
me  as  it  will  be  welcome.  Satisfied  that,  if  any  circumstances 
have  given  peculiar  value  to  my  services,  they  were  temporary,  I 
have  the  consolation  to  believe  that,  while  choice  and  prudence 
invite  me  to  quit  the  political  scene,  patriotism  does  not  forbid  it. 

In  looking  forward  to  the  moment  which  is  intended  to  termi- 
nate the  career  of  my  public  life,  my  feelings  do  not  permit  me  to 
suspend  the  deep  acknowledgment  of  that  debt  of  gratitude  which 
I  owe  to  my  beloved  country  for  the  many  honors  it  has  conferred 
upon  me ;  still  more  for  the  steadfast  confidence  with  which  it 
has  supported  me ;  and  for  the  opportunities  I  have  thence  en- 
joyed of  manifesting  my  inviolable  attachment,  by  services  faith- 
ful and  persevering,  though  in  usefulness  unequal  to  my  zeal.  If 
benefits  have  resulted  to  our  country  from  these  services,  let  it  al- 
ways be  remembered  to  your  praise,  and  as  an  instructive  example 
in  our  annals  that,  under  circumstances  in  which  the  passions, 
agitated  in  every  direction,  were  liable  to  mislead,  amid  appear- 
ances sometimes  dubious,  vicissitudes  of  fortune  often  discourag- 
ing, in  situations  in  which,  not  unfrcquently.  want  of  success  has 
countenanced  the  spirit  of  criticism,  the  constancy  of  your  support 
was  the  essential  prop  of  the  efforts,  and  a  guarantee  of  the  plans, 


24:0  A  PPENDIX. 

by  which  they  were  effected.  Profoundly  penetrated  with  this 
idea,  I  shall  carry  it  with  me  to  my  grave,  as  a  strong  incitement 
to  unceasing  vows  that  Heaven  may  continue  to  you  the  choicest 
tokens  of  its  beneficence ;  that  your  union  and  brotherly  affection 
may  be  perpetual ;  that  the  free  Constitution,  which  is  the  work 
of  your  hands,  may  be  sacredly  maintained ;  that  its  administra- 
tion in  every  department  may  be  stamped  with  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue ;  that,  in  fine,  the  happiness  of  the  people  of  these  States,  under 
the  auspices  of  liberty,  may  be  made  complete,  by  so  careful  a 
preservation  and  so  prudent  a  use  of  this  blessing  as  will  acquire 
to  them  the  glory  of  recommending  it  to  the  applause,  the  affec- 
tion, and  adoption  of  every  nation  which  is  yet  a  stranger  to  it. 

Here,  perhaps,  I  ought  to  stop ;  but  a  solicitude  for  your  welfare, 
which  can  not  end  but  with  my  life,  and  the  apprehension  of  dan- 
ger, natural  to  that  solicitude,  urge  me,  on  an  occasion  like  the 
present,  to  offer  to  your  solemn  contemplation,  and  to  recommend 
to  your  frequent  review,  some  sentiments  which  are  the  result  of 
much  reflection,  of  no  inconsiderable  observation,  and  which  ap- 
pear to  me  all-important  to  the  permanency  of  your  felicity  as  a 
people.  These  will  be  offered  to  you  with  the  more  freedom,  as 
you  can  only  see  in  them  the  disinterested  warnings  of  a  parting 
friend,  who  can  possibly  have  no  personal  motive  to  bias  his 
counsel ;  nor  can  I  forget,  as  an  encouragement  to  it,  your  indulg- 
ent reception  of  my  sentiments  on  a  former  and  not  dissimilar 
occasion. 

Interwoven  as  is  the  love  of  liberty  with  every  ligament  of  your 
hearts,  no  recommendation  of  mine  is  necessary  to  fortify  or  con- 
firm the  attachment. 

The  unity  of  government,  which  constitutes  you  one  people,  is 
also  now  dear  to  you.  It  is  justly  so ;  for  it  is  a  main  pillar  in  the 
edifice  of  your  real  independence ;  the  support  of  your  tranquillity 
at  home,  your  peace  abroad ;  of  your  safety ;  of  your  prosperity ; 
of  that  very  liberty  which  you  so  highly  prize.  But,  as  it  is  easy 
to  foresee,  that,  from  different  causes,  and  from  different  quarters, 
much  pains  will  be  taken,  many  artifices  employed,  to  weaken  in 
your  minds  the  conviction  of  this  truth ;  as  this  is  the  point  in 
your  political  fortress  against  which  the  batteries  of  internal  and 
external  enemies  will  be  most  constantly  and  actively  (though 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

often  covertly  and  insidiously)  directed,  it  is  of  infinite  moment 
that  you  should  properly  estimate  the  immense  value  of  your 
National  Union  to  your  collective  and  individual  happiness ;  that 
you  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable  attachment 
to  it ;  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of  it  as  of  the 
palladium  of  your  political  safety  and  prosperity ;  watching  for 
its  preservation  with  jealous  anxiety ;  discountenancing  whatever 
may  suggest  even  a  suspicion  that  it  can,  in  any  event,  be  aban- 
doned; and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the  first  dawning  of  every 
attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to 
enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  together  the  various  parts. 

For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of  sympathy  and  interest. 
Citizens,  by  birth  or  choice,  of  a  common  country,  that  country 
has  a  right  to  concentrate  your  affections.  The  name  of  AMEIUCAN, 
which  belongs  to  you  in  your  National  capacity,  must  always  exalt 
the  just  pride  of  patriotism  more  than  any  appellation  derived 
from  local  discriminations.  With  slight  shades  of  difference,  you 
have  the  same  religion,  manners,  habits,  and  political  principles. 
You  have,  in  a  common  cause,  fought  and  triumphed  together : 
the  independence  and  liberty  you  possess  are  the  work  of  joint 
councils  and  joint  efforts,  of  common  dangers,  sufferings,  and  suc- 
cesses. 

But  these  considerations,  however  powerfully  they  address  them- 
selves to  your  sensibility,  are  greatly  outweighed  by  those  which 
apply  more  immediately  to  your  interest.  Here  every  portion  of 
our  country  finds  the  most  commanding  motives  for  carefully 
guarding  and  preserving  the  union  of  the  whole. 

The  North,  in  an  unrestrained  intercourse  with  the  South,  pro- 
tected by  the  equal  laws  of  a  common  government,  finds,  in  the 
productions  of  the  latter,  great  additional  resources  of  maritime 
and  commercial  enterprise,  and  precious  materials  of  manufactur- 
ing industry.  The  Smith,  in  the  same  intercourse,  benefiting  by 
the  agency  of  the  North,  sees  its  agriculture  grow,  and  its  com- 
merce expand.  Turning  partly  into  its  own  channels  the  seamen 
of  the  North,  it  finds  its  particular  navigation  invigorated ;  and, 
while  it  contributes,  in  different  ways,  to  nourish  and  increase  the 
general  mass  of  the  National  navigation,  it  looks  forward  to  the 
protection  of  a  maritime  strength  to  which  itself  is  unequally 

L 


242  APPENDIX. 

adapted.  The  East,  in  like  intercourse  with  the  West,  already 
finds,  and  in  the  progressive  improvement  of  interior  communica- 
tions by  land  and  water  will  more  and  more  find,  a  valuable  vent 
for  the  commodities  which  it  brings  from  abroad  or  manufactures 
at  home.  The  West  derives  from  the  East  supplies  requisite  to  its 
growth  and  comfort ;  and,  what  is,  perhaps,  of  still  greater  conse- 
quence, it  must,  of  necessity,  owe  the  secure  enjoyment  of  indis- 
pensable outlets  for  its  own  productions  to  the  weight,  influence, 
and  the  future  maritime  strength  of  the  Atlantic  side  of  the 
Union,  directed  by  an  indissoluble  community  of  interest  as  one 
nation.  Any  other  tenure  by  which  the  West  can  hold  this  essen- 
tial advantage,  whether  derived  from  its  own  separate  strength, 
or  from  an  apostate  and  unnatural  connection  with  any  foreign 
power,  must  be  intrinsically  precarious. 

While,  then,  every  part  of  our  country  thus  feels  an  immediate 
and  particular  interest  in  union,  all  the  parts  combined  can  not 
fail  to  find,  in  the  united  mass  of  means  and  efforts,  greater 
strength,  greater  resource,  proportionably  greater  security  from 
external  danger,  a  less  frequent  interruption  of  their  peace  by  for- 
eign nations ;  and,  what  is  of  inestimable  value,  they  must  derive 
from  union  an  exemption  from  those  broils  and  wars  between 
themselves  which  so  frequently  afflict  neighboring  countries  not 
tied  together  by  the  same  governments ;  which  their  own  rivalships 
alone  would  be  sufficient  to  produce,  but  which  opposite  foreign 
alliances,  attachments,  and  intrigues  would  stimulate  and  embitter. 
Hence,  likewise,  they  will  avoid  the  necessity  of  those  overgrown 
military  establishments  which,  under  any  form  of  government,  are 
inauspicious  to  liberty,  and  which  are  to  be  regarded  as  particu- 
larly hostile  to  republican  liberty;  in  this  sense  it  is  that  your 
union  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  main  prop  of  your  liberty,  and 
that  the  love  of  the  one  ought  to  endear  to  you  the  preservation 
of  the  other. 

These  considerations  speak  a  persuasive  language  to  every  re- 
flecting and  virtuous  mind,  and  exhibit  the  continuance  of  the 
Union  as  a  primary  object  of  patriotic  desire.  Is  there  a  doubt 
whether  a  common  government  can  embrace  so  large  a  sphere? 
Let  experience  solve  it.  To  listen  to  mere  speculation,  in  such  a 
case,  were  criminal.  "We  are  authorized  to  hope  that  a  proper  or- 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS.        243 

ganization  of  the  whole,  with  the  auxiliary  agency  of  governments 
for  the  respective  subdivisions,  will  afford  a  happy  issue  to  the  ex- 
periment. It  is  well  worth  a  fair  and  full  experiment.  With  such 
powerful  and  obvious  motives  to  union,  affecting  all  parts  of  our 
country,  while  experience  shall  not  have  demonstrated  its  im- 
practicability, there  will  always  be  reason  to  distrust  the  patriot- 
ism of  those  who,  in  any  quarter,  may  endeavor  to  weaken  its 
bands. 

In  contemplating  the  causes  which  may  disturb  our  union,  it  oc- 
curs as  matter  of  serious  concern  that  any  ground  should  have 
been  furnished  for  characterizing  parties  by  geographical  discrim- 
inations— Northern  and  Southern,  Atlantic  and  Western;  whence  de- 
signing men  may  endeavor  to  excite  a  belief  that  there  is  a  real 
difference  of  local  interests  and  views.  One  of  the  expedients  of 
party  to  acquire  influence,  within  particular  districts,  is  to  misrep- 
resent the  opinions  and  aims  of  other  districts.  You  can  not 
shield  yourselves  too  much  against  the  jealousies  and  heart-burn- 
ings which  spring  from  these  misrepresentations;  they  tend  to 
render  alien  to  each  other  those  who  ought  to  be  bound  together 
by  fraternal  affection.  The  inhabitants  of  our  western  country 
have  lately  had  a  useful  lesson  on  this  head :  they  have  seen,  in 
the  negotiation  by  the  Executive,  and  in  the  unanimous  ratification 
by  the  Senate,  of  the  treaty  with  Spain,  and  in  the  universal  satis- 
faction at  that  event  throughout  the  United  States,  a  decisive  proof 
how  unfounded  were  the  suspicions  propagated  among  them  of  a 
policy  in  the  General  Government  and  in  the  Atlantic  States  un- 
friendly to  their  interests  in  regard  to  the  Mississippi ;  they  have 
been  witnesses  to  the  formation  of  two  treaties,  that  with  Great 
Britain,  and  that  with  Spain,  which  secure  to  them  every  tiling 
they  could  desire,  in  respect  to  our  foreign  relations,  toward  con- 
firming their  prosperity.  Will  it  not  be  their  wisdom  to  rely,  for 
the  preservation  of  these  advantages,  on  the  UNION  by  which  they 
were  procured  ?  Will  they  not  henceforth  be  deaf  to  those  ad- 
visers, if  such  there  are,  who  would  sever  them  from  their  brethren, 
and  connect  them  with  aliens  ? 

To  the  efficacy  and  permanency  of  your  Union,  a  government 
for  the  whole  is  indispensable.  No  alliances,  however  strict,  be- 
tween the  parts,  can  be  an  adequate  substitute;  they  must  inevi- 


244  APPENDIX. 

tably  experience  the  infractions  and  interruptions  which  all  alli- 
ances, in  all  times,  have  experienced.  Sensible  of  this  momentous 
truth,  you  have  improved  upon  your  first  essay  by  the  adoption  of 
a  Constitution  of  Government  better  calculated  than  your  former 
for  an  intimate  Union,  and  for  the  efficacious  management  of  your 
common  concerns.  This  government,  the  offspring  of  your  own 
choice,  uninfluenced  and  unawed,  adopted  upon  full  investigation 
and  mature  deliberation,  completely  free  in  its  principles,  in  the 
distribution  of  its  powers  uniting  security  with  energy,  and  con- 
taining within  itself  a  provision  for  its  own  amendment,  has  a  just 
claim  to  your  confidence  and  your  support.  Respect  for  its  author- 
ity, compliance  with  its  laws,  acquiescence  in  its  measures,  are  du- 
ties enjoined  by  the  fundamental  maxims  of  true  liberty.  The 
basis  of  our  political  systems  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  make 
and  to  alter  their  Constitutions  of  Government.  But  the  Consti- 
tution which  at  any  time  exists,  till  changed  by  an  explicit  and 
authentic  act  of  the  whole  people,  is  sacredly  obligatory  upon  all. 
The  very  idea  of  the  power  and  the  right  of  the  people  to  estab- 
lish government  presupposes  the  duty  of  every  individual  to  obey 
the  established  government. 

All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  all  combinations 
and  associations,  under  whatever  plausible  character,  with  the  real 
design  to  direct,  control,  counteract,  or  awe  the  regular  delibera- 
tion and  action  of  the  constituted  authorities,  are  destructive  of 
this  fundamental  principle,  and  of  fatal  tendency.  They  serve  to 
organize  faction,  to  give  it  an  artificial  and  extraordinary  force ; 
to  put,  in  the  place  of  the  delegated  will  of  the  nation,  the  will  of 
a  party,  often  a  small  but  artful  and  enterprising  minority  of  the 
community ;  and,  according  to  the  alternate  triumphs  of  different 
parties,  to  make  the  public  administration  the  mirror  of  the  ill- 
concerted  and  incongruous  projects  of  faction,  rather  than  the  or- 
gan of  consistent  and  wholesome  plans,  digested  by  common  coun- 
cils, and  modified  by  mutual  interests. 

However  combinations  or  associations  of  the  above  description 
may  now  and  then  answer  popular  ends,  they  are  likely,  in  the 
course  of  time  and  things,  to  become  potent  engines  by  which 
cunning,  ambitious,  and  unprincipled  men  will  be  enabled  to 
subvert  the  power  of  the  people,  and  usurp  for  themselves  the 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS.         245 

reins  of  government;  destroying,  afterward,  the  very  engines  which 
had  lifted  them  to  unjust  dominion. 

Toward  the  preservation  of  your  government,  and  the  permanency 
of  your  present  happy  state,  it  is  requisite,  not  only  that  you  stead- 
ily discountenance  irregular  oppositions  to  its  acknowledged  au- 
thority, but  also  that  you  resist  with  care  the  spirit  of  innovation 
upon  its  principles,  however  specious  the  pretexts.  One  method 
of  assault  may  be  to  effect,  in  the  forms  of  the  Constitution,  altera- 
tions which  will  impair  the  energy  of  the  system,  and  thus  to  un- 
dermine what  can  not  be  directly  overthrown.  In  all  the  changes 
to  which  you  may  be  invited,  remember  that  time  and  habit  are 
at  least  as  necessary  to  fix  the  true  character  of  governments  as 
of  other  human  institutions ;  that  experience  is  the  surest  stand- 
ard by  which  to  test  the  real  tendency  of  the  existing  Constitution 
of  a  country ;  that  facility  in  changes,  upon  the  credit  of  mere  hy- 
pothesis and  opinion,  exposes  to  perpetual  change,  from  the  end- 
less variety  of  hypothesis  and  opinion ;  and  remember,  especially, 
that,  for  the  efficient  management  of  your  common  interests  in  a 
country  so  extensive  as  ours,  a  government  of  as  much  vigor  as  is 
consistent  with  the  security  of  perfect  liberty  is  indispensable. 
Liberty  itself  will  find  in  such  a  government,  with  powers  proper- 
ly distributed  and  adjusted,  its  surest  guardian.  It  is,  indeed, 
little  else  than  a  name  where  the  government  is  too  feeble  to  with- 
stand the  enterprises  of  faction,  to  confine  each  member  of  the  so- 
ciety within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  laws,  and  to  maintain  all 
in  the  secure  and  tranquil  enjoyment  of  the  rights  of  person  and 
property. 

I  have  already  intimated  to  you  the  danger  of  parties  in  the 
state,  with  particular  reference  to  the  founding  of  them  on  geo- 
graphical discriminations.  Let  me  now  take  a  more  comprehen- 
sive view,  and  warn  you  in  the  most  solemn  manner  against  the 
baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of  party  generally. 

This  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable  from  our  nature,  having 
its  root  in  the  strongest  passions  of  the  human  mind.  It  exists, 
under  different  shapes,  in  all  governments,  more  or  less  stifled, 
controlled,  or  repressed;  but  in  those  of  the  popular  form  it  is 
seen  in  its  greatest  rankness,  and  is  truly  their  worst  enemy. 

The  alternate  domination  of  one  faction  over  another,  sharpened 


246  APPENDIX. 

by  the  spirit  of  revenge,  natural  to  party  dissension,  which  in  dif- 
ferent ages  and  countries  has  perpetrated  the  most  horrid  enor- 
mities, is  itself  a  frightful  despotism.  But  this  leads  at  length  to  a 
more  formal  and  permanent  despotism.  The  disorders  and  mis- 
eries which  result  gradually  incline  the  minds  of  men  to  seek  se- 
curity and  repose  in  the  absolute  power  of  an  individual ;  and 
sooner  or  later  the  chief  of  some  prevailing  faction,  more  able  or 
more  fortunate  than  his  competitors,  turns  this  disposition  to  the 
purposes  of  his  own  elevation,  on  the  ruins  of  Public  Liberty. 

Without  looking  forward  to  an  extremity  of  this  kind  (which, 
nevertheless,  ought  not  to  be  entirely  out  of  sight),  the  common 
and  continual  mischiefs  of  the  spirit  of  party  are  sufficient  to 
make  it  the  interest  and  duty  of  a  wise  people  to  discourage  and 
restrain  it. 

It  serves  always  to  distract  the  Public  Councils  and  enfeeble 
the  Public  Administration.  It  agitates  the  community  with  ill- 
founded  jealousies  and  false  alarms;  kindles  the  animosity  of  one 
part  against  another ;  foments,  occasionally,  riot  and  insurrection. 
It  opens  the  door  to  foreign  influence  and  corruption,  which  find 
a  facilitated  access  to  the  government  itself  through  the  channels 
of  party  passions.  Thus  the  policy  and  the  will  of  one  country 
are  subjected  to  the  policy  and  will  of  another. 

There  is  an  opinion  that  parties  in  free  countries  are  useful 
checks  upon  the  administration  of  the  government,  and  serve  to 
keep  alive  the  spirit  of  Liberty.  This,  within  certain  limits,  is 
probably  true ;  and  in  governments  of  a  monarchical  cast,  Patriot- 
ism may  look  with  indulgence,  if  not  with  favor,  upon  the  spirit 
of  party.  But  in  those  of  the  popular  character,  in  governments 
purely  elective,  it  is  a  spirit  not  to  be  encouraged.  From  their 
natural  tendency,  it  is  certain  there  will  always  be  enough  of  that 
spirit  for  every  salutary  purpose.  And,  there  being  constant  dan- 
ger of  excess,  the  eflFort  ought  to  be,  by  force  of  public  opinion,  to 
mitigate  and  assuage  it.  A  fire  not  to  be  quenched,  it  demands  a 
uniform  vigilance  to  prevent  its  bursting  into  a  flame,  lest,  instead 
of  warming,  it  should  consume. 

It  is  important,  likewise,  that  the  habits  of  thinking  in  a  free 
country  should  inspire  caution,  in  those  intrusted  with  its  admin- 
istration, to  confine  themselves  within  their  respective  constitu- 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL   ADDRESS.         247 

tional  spheres,  avoiding  in  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of  one  de- 
partment to  encroach  upon  another.  The  spirit  of  encroachment 
tends  to  consolidate  the  powers  of  all  the  departments  in  one,  and 
thus  to  create,  whatever  the  form  of  government,  a  real  despotism. 
A  just  estimate  of  that  love  of  power,  and  proneness  to  abuse  it, 
which  predominates  in  the  human  heart,  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  us 
of  the  truth  of  this  position.  The  necessity  of  reciprocal  checks 
in  the  exercise  of  political  power,  by  dividing  and  distributing  it 
into  different  depositories,  and  constituting  each  the  Guardian  of 
the  Public  Weal  against  invasions  by  the  others,  has  been  evinced 
by  experiments  ancient  and  modern ;  some  of  them  in  our  country 
and  under  our  own  eyes.  To  preserve  them  must  be  as  necessary 
as  to  institute  them.  If,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people,  the  distri- 
bution or  modification  of  the  constitutional  powers  be,  in  any  par- 
ticular, wrong,  let  it  be  corrected  by  an  amendment  in  the  way 
which  the  Constitution  designates.  But  let  there  be  no  change 
by  usurpation ;  for,  though  this  in  one  instance  may  be  the  instru- 
ment of  good,  it  is  the  customary  weapon  by  which  free  govern- 
ments are  destroyed.  The  precedent  must  always  greatly  over- 
balance, in  permanent  evil,  any  partial  or  transient  benefit  which 
the  use  can  at  any  time  yield. 

Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political  pros- 
perity, Religion  and  Morality  are  indispensable  supports.  In  vain 
would  that  man  claim  the  tribute  of  Patriotism  who  should  labor 
to  subvert  these  great  pillars  of  human  happiness,  these  firmest 
props  of  the  duties  of  Men  and  Citizens.  The  mere  Politician, 
equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  respect  and  to  cherish 
them.  A  volume  could  not  trace  all  their  connections  with  pri- 
vate and  public  felicity.  Let  it  simply  be  asked,  Where  is  the 
security  for  property,  for  reputation,  for  life,  if  the  sense  of  relig- 
ious obligation  desert  the  oaths,  which  are  the  instruments  of  in- 
vestigation in  Courts  of  Justice  ?  And  let  us  with  caution  indulge 
the  supposition  that  morality  can  be  maintained  without  religion. 
Whatever  may  be  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined  education 
on  minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  experience  both  forbid 
us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of 
religious  principle. 

It  is  substantially  true  that  virtue  or  morality  is  a  necessary 


248  APPENDIX. 

spring  of  popular  government.  The  rule,  indeed,  extends  with 
more  or  less  force  to  every  species  of  free  government.  Who  that 
is  a  sincere  friend  to  it  can  look  with  indifference  upon  attempts 
to  shake  the  foundation  of  the  fabric  ? 

Promote,  then,  as  an  object  of  primary  importance,  institutions 
for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  proportion  as  the 
structure  of  a  government  gives  force  to  public  opinion,  it  is  es- 
sential that  public  opinion  should  be  enlightened. 

As  a  very  important  source  of  strength  and  security,  cherish 
public  credit.  One  method  of  preserving  it  is  to  use  it  as  spar- 
ingly as  possible ;  avoiding  occasions  of  expense  by  cultivating 
peace,  but  remembering  also  that  timely  disbursements  to  prepare 
for  danger  frequently  prevent  much  greater  disbursements  to  re- 
pel it ;  avoiding,  likewise,  the  accumulation  of  debt,  not  only  by 
shunning  occasions  of  expense,  but  by  vigorous  exertions  in  time 
of  peace  to  discharge  the  debts  which  unavoidable  wars  may 
have  occasioned,  not  ungenerously  throwing  upon  posterity  the 
burden  which  we  ourselves  ought  to  bear.  The  execution  of 
these  maxims  belongs  to  your  Representatives,  but  it  is  necessary 
that  public  opinion  should  co-operate.  To  facilitate  to  them  the 
performance  of  their  duty,  it  is  essential  that  you  should  practi- 
cally bear  in  mind  that  toward  the  payment  of  debts  there  must 
be  Revenue ;  that  to  have  Revenue  there  must  be  taxes ;  that  no 
taxes  can  be  devised  which  are  not  more  or  less  inconvenient  and 
unpleasant ;  that  the  intrinsic  embarrassment,  inseparable  from  the 
selection  of  the  proper  objects  (which  is  always  a  choice  of  diffi- 
culties), ought  to  be  a  decisive  motive  for  a  candid  construction 
of  the  conduct  of  the  government  in  making  it,  and  for  a  spirit  of 
acquiescence  in  the  measures  for  obtaining  Revenue  which  the 
public  exigencies  may  at  any  time  dictate. 

Observe  good  faith  and  justice  toward  all  Nations;  cultivate 
peace  and  harmony  with  all.  Religion  and  Morality  enjoin  this 
conduct ;  and  can  it  be  that  good  policy  does  not  equally  enjoin 
it?  It  will  be  worthy  of  a  free,  enlightened,  and,  at  no  distant 
period,  a  great  Nation,  to  give  to  mankind  the  magnanimous  and 
too  novel  example  of  a  people  always  guided  by  an  exalted  jus- 
tice and  benevolence.  Who  can  doubt  that,  in  the  course  of  time 
and  things,  the  fruits  of  such  a  plan  would  richly  repay  any  tern- 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

porary  advantages,  which  might  be  lost  by  a  steady  adherence  to 
it  ?  Can  it  be  that  Providence  has  not  connected  the  permanent 
felicity  of  a  Nation  with  its  Virtue  ?  The  experiment,  at  least,  is 
recommended  by  every  sentiment  which  ennobles  human  nature. 
Alas !  is  it  rendered  impossible  by  its  vices  ? 

In  the  execution  of  such  a  plan,  nothing  is  more  essential  than 
that  permanent,  inveterate  antipathies  against  particular  nations, 
and  passionate  attachments  for  others,  should  be  excluded ;  and 
that,  in  place  of  them,  just  and  amicable  feelings  toward  all  should 
be  cultivated.  The  nation  which  indulges  toward  another  an 
habitual  hatred,  or  an  habitual  fondness,  is  in  some  degree  a  slave. 
It  is  a  slave  to  its  animosity  or  to  its  affection,  either  of  which  is 
sufficient  to  lead  it  astray  from  its  duty  and  its  interest.  Antipathy 
in  one  nation  against  another  disposes  each  more  readily  to  offer 
insult  and  injury,  to  lay  hold  of  slight  causes  of  umbrage,  and  to 
be  haughty  and  intractable  when  accidental  or  trifling  occasions  of 
dispute  occur.  Hence  frequent  collisions,  obstinate,  envenomed, 
and  bloody  contests.  The  nation,  prompted  by  ill-will  and  re- 
sentment, sometimes  impels  to  war  the  Government,  contrary  to 
the  best  calculations  of  policy.  The  Government  sometimes  par- 
ticipates in  the  national  propensity,  and  adopts  through  passion 
what  reason  would  reject ;  at  other  times,  it  makes  the  animosity 
of  the  nation  subservient  to  projects  of  hostility  instigated  by 
pride,  ambition,  and  other  sinister  and  pernicious  motives.  The 
peace  often,  sometimes  perhaps  the  liberty  of  nations  has  been 
the  victim. 

So,  likewise,  a  passionate  attachment  of  one  nation  for  another 
produces  a  variety  of  evils.  Sympathy  for  the  favorite  nation,  fa- 
cilitating the  illusion  of  an  imaginary  common  interest,  in  cases 
where  no  real  common  interest  exists,  and  infusing  into  one  the 
enmities  of  the  other,  betrays  the  former  into  a  participation  in 
the  quarrels  and  wars  of  the  latter,  without  adequate  inducement 
or  justification.  It  leads  also  to  concessions  to  the  favorite  na- 
tion of  privileges  denied  to  others,  which  is  apt  doubly  to  injure 
the  nation  making  the  concessions,  by  unnecessarily  parting  with 
what  ought  to  have  been  retained,  and  by  exciting  jealousy,  ill- 
will,  and  a  disposition  to  retaliate  in  the  parties  from  whom  equal 
privileges  are  withheld ;  and  it  gives  to  ambitious,  corrupted,  or 

L2 


250  APPENDIX. 

deluded  citizens  (who  devote  themselves  to  the  favorite  nation) 
facility  to  betray  or  sacrifice  the  interest  of  their  own  country, 
without  odium,  sometimes  even  with  popularity ;  gilding  with  the 
appearances  of  a  virtuous  sense  of  obligation,  a  commendable  def- 
erence for  public  opinion,  or  a  laudable  zeal  for  public  good,  the 
base  or  foolish  compliances  of  ambition,  corruption,  or  infatuation. 

As  avenues  to  foreign  influence,  in  innumerable  ways,  such  at- 
tachments are  particularly  alarming  to  the  truly  enlightened  and 
independent  patriot.  How  many  opportunities  do  they  afford  to 
tamper  with  domestic  factions,  to  practice  the  arts  of  seduction, 
to  mislead  public  opinion,  to  influence  or  awe  the  public  councils ! 
Such  an  attachment  of  a  small  or  weak  toward  a  great  and  pow- 
erful nation  dooms  the  former  to  be  the  satellite  of  the  latter. 

Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence  (I  conjure  you 
to  believe  me,  fellow-citizens),  the  jealousy  of  a  free  people  ought 
to  be  constantly  awake ;  since  history  and  experience  prove  that 
foreign  influence  is  one  of  the  most  baneful  foes  of  Republican 
Government.  But  that  jealousy,  to  be  useful,  must  be  impartial ; 
else  it  becomes  the  instrument  of  the  very  influence  to  be  avoided, 
instead  of  a  defense  against  it.  Excessive  partiality  for  one  for- 
eign nation,  and  excessive  dislike  of  another,  cause  those  whom 
they  actuate  to  see  danger  only  on  one  side,  and  serve  to  veil  and 
even  second  the  arts  of  influence  on  the  other.  Real  patriots,  who 
may  resist  the  intrigues  of  the  favorite,  are  liable  to  become  sus- 
pected and  odious;  while  its  tools  and  dupes  usurp  the  applause 
and  confidence  of  the  people  to  surrender  their  interests. 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,  in  regard  to  foreign  nations, 
is,  in  extending  our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with  them  as 
little  political  connection  as  possible.  So  far  as  we  have  already 
formed  engagements,  let  them  be  fulfilled  with  perfect  good  faith. 
Here  let  us  stop. 

Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests  which  to  us  have  none,  or 
a  very  remote  relation.  Hence  she  must  be  engaged  in  frequent 
controversies,  the  causes  of  which  are  essentially  foreign  to  our 
concerns.  Hence,  therefore,  it  must  be  unwise  in  us  to  implicate 
ourselves,  by  artificial  ties,  in  the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of  her  poli- 
tics, or  the  ordinary  combinations  and  collisions  of  her  friendships 
or  enmities. 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS.        251 

Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and  enables  us  to 
pursue  a  different  course.  If  we  remain  one  people,  under  an  ef- 
ficient government,  the  period  is  not  far  oif  when  we  may  defy 
material  injury  from  external  annoyance ;  when  we  may  take  such 
an  attitude  as  will  cause  the  neutrality  we  may  at  any  time  re- 
solve upon  to  be  scrupulously  respected ;  when  belligerent  nations, 
under  the  impossibility  of  making  acquisitions  upon  us,  will  not 
lightly  hazard  the  giving  us  provocation ;  when  we  may  choose 
peace  or  war,  as  our  interest,  guided  by  justice,  shall  counsel. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation?  Why 
quit  our  own,  to  stand  upon  foreign  ground  ?  Why,  by  inter- 
weaving our  destiny  with  that  of  any  part  of  Europe,  entangle 
our  peace  and  prosperity  in  the  toils  of  European  ambition,  inter- 
est, humor,  or  caprice  ? 

It  is  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear  of  permanent  alliances  with 
any  portion  of  the  foreign  world,  so  far,  I  mean,  as  we  are  now  at 
liberty  to  do  it ;  for  let  me  not  be  understood  as  capable  of  pat- 
ronizing infidelity  to  existing  engagements.  I  hold  the  maxim 
no  less  applicable  to  public  than  to  private  affairs,  that  honesty  is 
always  the  best  policy.  I  repeat  it,  therefore,  let  those  engage- 
ments be  observed  in  their  genuine  sense.  But,  in  my  opinion,  it 
is  unnecessary  and  would  be  unwise  to  extend  them. 

Taking  care  always  to  keep  ourselves,  by  suitable  establish- 
ments, on  a  respectable  defensive  posture,  we  may  safely  trust  to 
temporary  alliances  for  extraordinary  emergencies. 

Harmony,  and  a  liberal  intercourse  with  all  nations,  are  recom- 
mended by  policy,  humanity,  and  interest.  But  even  our  commer- 
cial policy  should  hold  an  equal  and  impartial  hand :  neither 
seeking  nor  granting  exclusive  favors  or  preferences ;  consulting 
the  natural  course  of  things;  diffusing  and  diversifying,  by  gentle 
means,  the  streams  of  commerce,  but  forcing  nothing ;  establishing, 
with  powers  so  disposed,  in  order  to  give  trade  a  stable  course,  to 
define  the  rights  of  our  merchants,  and  to  enable  the  government 
to  support  them,  conventional  rules  of  intercourse,  the  best  thnt 
present  circumstances  and  mutual  opinion  will  permit,  but  tempo- 
rary, and  liable  to  be  from  time  to  time  abandoned  or  varied,  as 
experience  and  circumstances  shall  dictate ;  constantly  keeping  in 
view  that  it  is  folly  in  one  nation  to  look  for  disinterested  favors 


252  APPENDIX. 

from  another ;  that  it  must  pay  with  a  portion  of  its  independence 
for  whatever  it  may  accept  under  that  character ;  that,  by  such  ac- 
ceptance, it  may  place  itself  in  the  condition  of  having  given 
equivalents  for  nominal  favors,  and  yet  of  being  reproached  with 
ingratitude  for  not  giving  more.  There  can  be  no  greater  error 
than  to  expect  or  calculate  upon  real  favors  from  nation  to  nation. 
It  is  an  illusion,  which  experience  must  cure,  which  a  just  pride 
ought  to  discard. 

In  offering  to  you,  my  countrymen,  these  counsels  of  an  old  and 
affectionate  friend,  I  dare  not  hope  they  will  make  the  strong  and 
lasting  impression  I  could  wish ;  that  they  will  control  the  usual 
current  of  the  passions,  or  prevent  our  nation  from  running  the 
course  which  has  hitherto  marked  the  destiny  of  nations.  But 
if  I  may  even  flatter  myself  that  they  may  be  productive  of  some 
partial  benefit  or  some  occasional  good — that  they  may  now  and 
then  recur  to  moderate  the  fury  of  party  spirit,  to  warn  against 
the  mischiefs  of  foreign  intrigue,  to  guard  against  the  impostures 
of  pretended  patriotism — this  hope  will  be  a  full  recompense  for 
the  solicitude  for  your  welfare  by  which  they  have  been  dictated. 

How  far,  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties,  I  have  been 
guided  by  the  principles  which  have  been  delineated,  the  public 
records  and  other  evidences  of  my  conduct  must  witness  to  you 
and  to  the  world.  To  myself,  the  assurance  of  my  own  conscience 
is  that  I  have  at  least  believed  myself  to  be  guided  by  them. 

In  relation  to  the  still  subsisting  war  in  Europe,  my  Proclama- 
tion of  the  22d  of  April,  1793,  is  the  index  to  my  plan.  Sanc- 
tioned by  your  approving  voice,  and  by  that  of  your  Represent- 
atives in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  the  spirit  of  that  measure  has 
continually  governed  me,  uninfluenced  by  any  attempts  to  deter 
or  divert  me  from  it. 

After  deliberate  examination,  with  the  aid  of  the  best  lights  I 
could  obtain,  I  was  well  satisfied  that  our  country,  under  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  had  a  right  to  take,  and  was  bound  in 
duty  and  interest  to  take,  a  neutral  position.  Having  taken  it,  I 
determined,  as  far  as  should  depend  upon  me,  to  maintain  it,  with 
moderation,  perseverance,  and  firmness. 

The  considerations  which  respect  the  right  to  hold  this  con- 
duct it  is  not  necessary  on  this  occasion  to  detail.  I  will  only 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS.         253 

observe  that,  according  to  my  understanding  of  the  matter,  that 
right,  so  far  from  being  denied  by  any  of  the  belligerent  powers, 
has  been  virtually  admitted  by  all. 

The  duty  of  holding  a  neutral  conduct  may  be  inferred,  without 
any  thing  more,  from  the  obligation  which  justice  and  humanity 
impose  on  every  nation,  in  cases  in  which  it  is  free  to  act,  to  main- 
tain inviolate  the  relations  of  peace  and  amity  toward  other  na- 
tions. 

The  inducements  of  interest  for  observing  that  conduct  will 
best  be  referred  to  your  own  reflections  and  experience.  With 
me,  a  predominant  motive  has  been  to  endeavor  to  gain  time  to 
our  country  to  settle  and  mature  its  yet  recent  institutions,  and  to 
progress  without  interruption  to  that  degree  of  strength  and  con- 
sistency which  is  necessary  to  give  it,  humanly  speaking,  the  com- 
mand of  its  own  fortunes. 

Though,  in  reviewing  the  incidents  of  my  administration,  I  am 
unconscious  of  intentional  error,  I  am  nevertheless  too  sensible  of 
my  defects  not  to  think  it  probable  that  I  may  have  committed 
many  errors.  Whatever  they  may  be,  I  fervently  beseech  the  Al- 
mighty to  avert  or  mitigate  the  evils  to  which  they  may  tend.  I 
shall  also  carry  with  me  the  hope  that  my  country  will  never 
cease  to  view  them  with  indulgence;  and  that,  after  forty-five 
years  of  my  life  dedicated  to  its  service  witli  an  upright  zeal,  the 
faults  of  incompetent  abilities  will  be  consigned  to  oblivion,  as 
myself  must  soon  be  to  the  mansions  of  rest. 

Relying  on  its  kindness  in  this  as  in  other  things,  and  actuated 
by  that  fervent  love  toward  it  which  is  so  natural  to  a  man  who 
views  in  it  the  native  soil  of  himself  and  his  progenitors  for  sev- 
eral generations,  I  anticipate  with  pleasing  expectation  that  re- 
treat in  which  I  promise  myself  to  realize,  without  alloy,  the  sweet 
enjoyment  of  partaking,  in  the  midst  of  my  fellow-citizens,  the  be- 
nign influence  of  good  laws  under  a  free  government,  the  ever  fa- 
vorite object  of  my  heart,  and  the  happy  reward,  as  I  trust,  of  our 
mutual  cares,  laljors,  and  dangers. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

United  State*,  September  \7th,  1790. 


INDEX. 


Accumulation  of  property  necessa- 
ry to  maintain  civilization,  77. 

American — his  first  duty,  16. 

politics,    a    fundamental 
truth  in,  16. 

Animals — their  desires,  13. 

Annexation — principles  on  which  it 
should  proceed,  198. 

Apprentices,  145. 

Arrests  can  be  made  only  on  war- 
rants, 173. 


Bank,  what  is  a,  96, 97. 

Bank-note,  what  is  a,  102. 

Bank-notes  not  money,  101, 103. 
convenience  of,  103. 

Barter,  79. 

Blankets,  how  to  make  dear,  129. 

Blunders,  some  political,  88. 

Boards,  the  material  for  sinks  of 
corruption,  44. 

Borrow,  the  poor  benefited  by  the 
power  to,  94. 

Borrower  and  lender,  how  to  facili- 
tate the  meeting  of,  96. 

Bounty,  a,  injures  the  receiver,  132. 
a,  to  one  is  a  loss  to  many, 
132. 

Bread,  37. 


California,  public  spirit  in,  24. 
Capital  alarmed  by  strikes,  142. 

defined,  74. 

is  accumulated  savings,  85. 

loss  of,  is  a  loss  to  non-cap- 
italists, 100. 

made  less  abundant  by  usu- 
ry laws,  93. 
Caucus,  182. 
Centralization  explained,  41. 

tendency  toward, 202. 
Change  a  curse,  203. 

tendency  to  political,  202. 
Children,  all,  should  be  cducatcd,69. 
Citizen,  how  to  be  a  good,  10. 


Citizens,  duty  of,  27. 
City  government,  188. 

needlessly    cum- 
brous, 191. 

Civil  Rights  Bill,  the  so-called,  153. 
Civilization  depends  on  commerce, 

116. 

impossible  without  pre- 
viously accumulated 
wealth,  77. 

Class  distinctions  mischievous,  52. 
Coining  money  explained,  82. 
Colonial  theory  in  the  last  century, 

Colonies,  management  of,  161. 
Commerce,  example  of  benefits  of 

unimpeded,  119. 
makes  good  allies,  199. 
not  a  secondary  trans- 
action, 118. 
one  of  the  great  sources 

of  wealth,  112. 
the   agent   of  civiliza- 
tion, 116. 
Commissions  confuse  and  corrupt, 

44. 
Compulsory  school-law,  156 ;  what 

it  should  compel,  67. 
Confederation,  powers  of  the,  102. 
Congress  a  representative  body,  62. 
has  power  to  regulate  com- 
merce, 121. 

of  the  Confederation   es- 
sentially powerless,  162. 
what,  can  do,  166. 
Conservative,  free  people  nhould  be, 

49. 
spirit  of  the  people, 

906. 

Constitution  and  Articles  of  Con- 

federation,      dltfcr- 

cncc  between,  164. 

anil  Laws  tlie  nupremc 

law  of  the  land,  16H. 

formed  to  secure  frrr- 

dom    of  exchange, 

164. 


256 


INDEX. 


Constitution,  points  of  a  good,  59. 
the,  limits  the  powers 
of  the  majority,  58. 
Consumers  benefited  by  unimpeded 

exchange,  113. 
Corporal's  guard,  a,  can  not  be  put 

at  every  man's  door,  25. 
Corporations  described,  158. 

should    be     held    in 

check,  159. 
Corruption,  how  to  foster,  30. 

in  governments  injuri- 
ous to  laborers,  88. 
Crazy  banker,  example  of  a,  108. 
Credit,  98. 

misuse  of,  98. 
Criminals  a  costly  luxury,  71. 


Decentralization,  40, 156, 191; 

extreme      impor- 
tance of,  200. 

Demagogues— some  of  their  work, 
56. 

Dependence  hateful,  147. 

Deposits,  97. 

Deranging   industries   by  interfer- 
ence, 130. 

Despotism,  convenience  of  a,  34. 

Dissatisfaction  of  laborers  just,  146. 

Diversified  industries,  121. 

Dollar,  what  is  a,  82. 

Duties  of  a  citizen,  175. 
for  revenue,  121. 


Education  a  means  to  intelligence, 

66. 

neglect  of,  a  costly  blun- 
der, 69. 

uses  of  an  elementary,  66. 
Eggs,  dear  and  cheap,  113. 
Elected,  what  officers  should  not  be, 

54. 

Example  contagious,  21. 
Exchange,  property  has  no  value 

without,  80. 

the  source  of  value,  112. 
Executive,  powers  of  the,  to  be  lim- 
ited, 43. 

the,  must  be  made  re- 
sponsible, 46. 
the,  what  he  is,  44. 

Factory  operatives'  life  not  of  a  high 

kind,  128. 
Farmers,  Western,  benefited  by  free 

capital,  94. 


Federal  Government,  powers   and 

limitations  of,  166, 167. 
revenues,  72. 

Fisk,  James,  why  disliked,  21. 
Foolishness,  various  kinds  of,  in- 
stanced, 63. 

Forced  loan,  a  greenback  is  a,  108. 
France— her  deplorable  example,  23. 
Free  banking  justified,  105. 

exchange  benefits  both  parties, 

114. 

government  a  political  applica- 
tion of  the  Christian  theory 
of  life,  v. 

government,  conditions  neces- 
sary for,  22. 
government  the  cheapest  and 

most  stable,  32. 
government   troublesome,  31, 

33. 
instruction  should  be  limited, 

67. 

man,  every  American  a,  173. 
schools,  abuses  in  the,  68. 
schools  a  political  institution, 
66. 


Gag  law,  the,  186. 

General  laws,  corporations  should 
be  formed  under, 
159. 

necessity,  of,  193. 
Genius  not  necessary  in  Congress, 

62. 

Gold  and  silver,  the  use  of,  81. 
Government  is  a  pauper,  110. 

— its  business  like  that 

of  a  merchant,  56. 
— its  office  in  coining, 

82,83. 

object  of,  75. 
parts  of  a,  38. 
primary  functions  of, 

22. 
secondary  functions  of, 

28. 

— test  of  its  merits,  40. 
what  we  owe  to  a  good, 

201. 

Governments  necessary  evils,  20. 
Grand  Jury,  177. 
Grazing,  123. 
Greenbacks,  107. 
Gregarious,  men  are,  13. 


Home  market,  the,  126. 
House-rent — on  what  it  depends,  90. 


INDEX. 


257 


Ignoramus,  brief  definition   of  an, 
85. 

Ignorance  often  united  with  good- 
ness, 17. 

Impediments  to  exchange,  natural 
and  artificial,  115. 

Inalienable  rights,  list  of,  173. 

Indirect  taxes — why  allowed,  72. 

Industry,  profitableness  of,  depends 
on  the  right  to  exchange,  163. 

Inefficiency  resented  by  the  people, 
186. 

Ingenuity  at  a  discount,  133. 

Intemperance,  evil  fruits  of,  151. 

Interest  the  rent  of  money,  90. 

Interference  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, 23. 

Government,    with 
banks,  104. 

Investigation  Committees  lead  to 
corruption,  159. 


Judiciary,  elective,  a  blunder,  194. 
Judges  ought  not  to  be  elected, 

§4. 

vice  of  electing,  190. 
Judgment,  men's,  fallible,  18. 
Jury  service,  175. 
trial  by,  177. 
Justice,  nothing  stable  except,  203. 


Labor  and  capital,  144. 

Land,  the  poorest,  used  first,  150. 

Lands,  waste,  political  importance 

of,  195. 
Law,  a  proposed,  fixing  house-rent, 

91. 

the  proper  limits  of,  19. 
the  province  of,  153. 
Law-makers— what  they  should  bear 

in  mind,  152. 

Laws  adopted,  great  number  of,  18. 
cover  only  a  part  of  man's" 

duty,  18. 
foolish,  passed  from  the  best 

motive*,  17. 

prompt  enforcement  of,  24. 
reforms  effected  by  repealing 

bad,  19. 

should  be  seldom  changed,  61. 
"Legal  tender"— why  ?  82. 
Legislative  bodies,  how  formed,  61. 
Liberty,  meaning  of,  18. 
License  law,  156. 
"  Local  option,"  68, 154, 157, 194. 
Local  self-government,  Ifi5. 

subdivisions,  political,  170. 


Machinery  lives,  131. 
Majority  rule,  58. 
Malthusian  theory,  the,  148. 
Manhood  suffrage — why  it  is  good, 

51. 

Manifest  destiny,  197. 
Manufactures  forbidden,  161. 

how,  spring  up  natu- 
rally, 125. 

New  England,  127. 
Market-places,  37. 
Mayor — his  powers  and  responsibil- 
ities, 189. 

Men,  many,  do  not  think,  18. 
some,  like  animals,  14. 
Merchant — his  office  in  society,  80. 
Migration,  196. 

a  remedy  for  low  wages, 

145. 

Minority,  effect  of  a  powerful,  187. 
— how  its  rights  are  pro- 
tected, 58. 

the  first  duty  of  a,  185. 
the,  often  right,  11. 
— when  it  must  fail,  186. 
Miser,  the,  an  enemy  of  hired  labor- 
ers, 85. 

Money,  the  use  of,  81. 
Money-getting  not  the  first  duty  in 

life,  52. 
Monopolies,  corporations  are  often, 

159. 

"  More  greenbacks,"  108. 
Municipal  powers  and  duties,  188. 


Nation,  the    Federal   Government 

rules  the,  169. 
the  United  States  a,  167. 
Natural  laws,  inllucnce   of,  in  the 

settlement  of  a  country,  124. 
Navigation  Act,  the,  161. 
Nominating  conventions,  l>iO. 
Non-intcrfi-rencc  theory,  tin-,  30. 
Non-partisan  government  n  frnud,4S. 
Nurseries  of  free  governments,  tbo 

town  meetings  are,  04. 


One  hundred  millions,  when  we 
number,  200. 

"One-term  principle"  not  a  princi- 
ple at  all,  59. 

Over-production  caused  by  bounties, 
185. 


Paper  money,  so  called,  not  money 
at  all,  101. 


258 


INDEX. 


Parties,  political,  how    composed, 

47.  .     ' 
Party  action,  rules  for,  184. 

government  necessary,  48. 
politics,  American,  compara- 
tively honorable,  181. 
Penalties  on  exchange,  117. 
People,  the,  will  punish  inefficiency 

and  corruption,  49. 
Petit  jury,  178. 

Philanthropists  not  always  wise,151. 
Platforms     sometimes    look    both 

ways,  49. 
Politics  an  enticing  pursuit,  181. 

the  importance  of,  in  a  free 

state,  11. 
Poor,  false  idea  of  the,  51. 

— how  they  are  benefited  by 

the  safety  of  capital,  86. 
Population — should  it  be  checked, 

148. 
Postmasters,  the  election  of,  would 

be  a  blunder,  55. 
Powers,  division  of,  38, 40. 
President — his  power  of  appoint- 
ment, 55. 

Primary  meetings,  180. 
Private   enterprise   should  not  be 

checked,  29. 

Prohibitory  legislation,  152. 
Property,  how,  originates,  118. 
the  fruit  of  labor,  76. 
the  rights  of,  justified,  75. 
—what  it  is,  74. 
Public  lands,  195. 

opinion,  the,  of  knaves,  16. 


Railroads,  36. 

Responsibility  can  be  no  greater 
than  the   author- 
ity given,  43. 
of    the    Executive, 
191. 

Rights,  inalienable,  list  of,  173. 

Ring,  the  New  York,  24. 

Rulers  easily  corrupted,  24. 

"Rum  did  it,"  151. 


Salt,  free,  136. 

"  Savior  of  Society,"  the,  a  wretched 
sham,  22. 

Scratching  a  ticket,  duty  of,  184. 

Selfishness  causes  despotic  rule,  20. 
sure  to  fail,  138. 

Self-sacrifice,  14. 

Senate,  power  of  the,  over  appoint- 
ments, 44. 


Sheriff  should  be  appointed,  194. 
Shin-plasters,  101. 
"  Slate,"  a  political,  57, 183. 
Small  industries  make  a  people  in- 
telligent, 123. 

notes,  why,  should  be  forbid- 
den, 103. 

Society,  rights   of,  against  liquor- 
sellers,  154. 
why,  is  formed,  13. 
Soul,  men  supposed  to  have  a,  14. 
what  prudence  dictates  to  a 

creature  with  a,  15. 
Souls,  corporations  have  no,  158. 
Special  legislation  corrupts  Legis- 
latures, 193. 
evil  of,  159. 
Specie  payments,  106. 
Stability  a  main  condition  of  prog- 
ress, 49. 

importance  of,  203. 
State   governments,  the   authority 

and  powers  of,  169. 
States  have  power  to   confer  the 

electoral  franchise,  52. 
Strike,  what  is  a,  139. 
Striker,  a,  must  keep  the  peace,  140. 
Strikes,    whether,    have    benefited 

workmen,  141. 
Subordinates,who  ought  to  appoint, 

44. 

Surplus  men,  no,  in  the  world,  145. 
sometimes  necessary,  84. 


Taxes,  direct  and  indirect,  72. 

why  we  pay,  70. 
Taxing  power,  abuse  of  the,  73. 
Telegraphing,  36. 
"Tenure  of  office"  law,  absurdity 

of  the,  45. 

Territorial  organization,  196. 
Town  meeting,  157. 

meetings  described,  64. 
"Trades,  boys  should  learn,  68. 
Trades-unions  interference  ofj  with 

production,  141. 
should  found  new  na- 
tions, 150. 

Twenty  per  cent.,  case  where  a  poor 
man  could  not  afford  to  pay  less 
than,  94. 
Two-story  frame-house,  a,  90. 

Union,  advantages  of  the,  165. 
Use  and  misuse,  155. 
Usury  laws  injurious  to  poor  men, 
93, 95. 


INDEX. 


259 


Value,  real,  of  a  dollar,  83. 
Vested  interests,  146. 
Vinelaud,  example  of,  157. 
Virtue  necessary  to  maintain  liber- 
ty, 20. 

Vote,  who,  and  why,  50. 
Voters,  independent,  47. 


Wages  paid  out  of  accumulated  cap- 
ital, 87. 
what  are,  85. 
Waste,  all  taxes  are,  71. 
Wealth,  duty  of,  51. 


Wealth  the  result  of  industry  and 
self-denial,  76. 

Wells-Fargo's  Express,  29.    • 

Women  as  laborers,  51. 

why,  are  denied  the  vote,  50. 

Working-men  have  a  right  to  strike, 
139. 

Workmen  not  benefited  by  boun- 
ties, 135. 

Wrongs  set  forth  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  163. 


"  Yankee  Notions,"  127. 


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COL.  FORNEY'S  ANECDOTES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN.  Anecdotes  of  Public 
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MISS  BEECHER'S  HOUSEKEEPER  AND  HEALTHKEEPER :  Contain- 
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many  Directions  fo?~  securing  Health  and  Happiness.  Approved  by  Phy- 
sicians of  all  Classes.  Illustrations.  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

FARM  BALLADS.  By  WILL  CABLETON.  Handsomely  Illustrated.  Square 
8vo,  Ornamental  Cloth,  $2  00 ;  Gilt  Edges,  $2  50. 

POETS  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.  The  Poets  <  f  the  Nine- 
teenth Century.  Selected  and  Edited  by  the  Rev.  ROBKBT  ABIS  WILL- 
MOTT.  With  English  and  American  Additions,  arranged  by  EVKBT  A. 
DCYCKINCK,  Editor  of  "  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Literature."  Comprie^ 
ing  Selections  from  the  Greatest  Authors  of  the  Age.  Superbly  Illus- 
trated with  141  Engravings  from  Designs  by  the  most  Eminent  Artists. 
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THE  REVISION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  VERSION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTA- 
MENT. With  an  Introduction  by  the  Rev.  P.  SOIIAFF,  D.D.  618  pp., 
Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

This  work  embraces  in  one  volume : 

I.  ON  A  FRESH  REVISION  OF  THE  ENGLISH  NEW  TESTA- 
MENT. By  J.  B.  LIGHTFOOT,  D.D.,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  and  Hul- 
sean  Professor  of  Divinity,  Cambridge.  Second  Edition,  Revised. 
196  pp. 

D.  ON  THE  AUTHORIZED  VERSION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTA- 
MENT  in  Connection  with  some  Recent  Proposals  for  its  Revision. 
By  RICHARD  CHENEVIX  TEENCH,  D.D.,  Archbishop  of  Dublin.  194  pp. 
HI.  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  REVISION  OF  THE  ENGLISH 
VERSION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT,  By  C.  J.  ELLICOTT,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol.  178  pp. 

NORDHOFF'S  CALIFORNIA.  California  J?or  Health,  Pleasure,  and  Res- 
idence. A  Book  for  Travelers  and  Settlers.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Paper, 
$2  00 ;  Cloth,  $2  50. 

MOTLEY'S  DUTCH  REPUBLIC.  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic.  By 
JOHN  LOTHBOP  MOTLEY,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.  With  a  Portrait  of  William  of 
Orange.  3  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $10  50. 

MOTLEY'S  UNITED  NETHERLANDS.  History  of  the  United  Nether- 
lands :  from  the  Death  of  William  the  Silent  to  the  Twelve  Years'  Truce 
—1609.  With  a  full  View  of  the  English-Dutch  Struggle  against  Spain, 
and  of  the  Origin  and  Destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada.  By  JOHN 
LOTHBOP  MOTLEY,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.  Portraits.  4  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $14  00. 

NAPOLEON'S  LIFE  OF  CAESAR.  The  History  of  Julius  Caesar.  By  His 
late  Imperial  Majesty  NAPOLEON  IIL  Two  Volumes  ready.  Library  Edi- 
tion, 8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50  per  vol. 

HAYDN'S  DICTIONARY  OF  DATES,  relating  to  all  Ages  and  Nations. 
For  Universal  Reference.  Edited  by  BENJAMIN  VINCENT,  Assistant  Secre- 
tory and  Keeper  of  the  Library  of  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain  ; 
and  Revised  for  the  Use  of  American  Readers.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep, 
$6  00. 

M&CGREGOR'S  ROB  ROY  ON  THE  JORDAN.  The  Rob  Roy  on  the 
Jordan,  Nile,  Red  Sea,  and  Gennesareth,  &c.  A  Canoe  Cruise  in  Pales- 
tine and  Egypt,  and  the  Waters  of  Damascus.  By  J.  MAOQBEQOB,  M.A. 
With  Maps  and  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 


Harper  <Sr»  Brother?  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works.          3 

WALLACE'S  MALAY  ARCHIPELAGO.  The  Malay  Archipelago:  the 
Land  of  the  Orang-U tan  and  the  Bird  of  Paradise.  A  Narrative  of  Trav- 
el, 1S54-1S62.  With  Studies  of  Man  and  Nature.  By  ALFBEU  RCRSKL 
WALLACE.  With  Ten  Maps  and  Fifty-one  Elegant  Illustrations.  Crown 
8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

WHYMPER'S  ALASKA.  Travel  and  Adventure  in  the  Territory  of  Alas- 
ka, formerly  Russian  America — now  Ceded  to  the  United  States— and  in 
various  other  parts  of  the  North  Pacific.  By  FBEUEBIOK  WHTMPEB 
With  Map  and  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

ORTON'S  ANDES  AND  THE  AMAZON.  The  Andes  and  the  Amazon ;  or, 
Across  the  Continent  of  South  America.  By  JAMES  OBTON,  M.  A.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Natural  History  in  Vassar  College,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  and 
Corresponding  Member  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Philadel- 
phia. With  a  New  Map  of  Equatorial  America  and  numerous  Illustra- 
tions. Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

WINCHELL'S  SKETCHES  OF  CREATION.  Sketches  of  Creation:  a 
Popular  View  of  some  of  the  Grand  Conclusions  of  the  Sciences  in  ref- 
erence to  the  History  of  Matter  and  of  Life.  Together  with  a  Statement 
of  the  Intimations  of  Science  respecting  the  Primordial  Condition  and 
the  Ultimate  Destiny  of  the  Earth  and  the  Solar  System.  By  ALEXAN- 
I>EB  WINCHELL,  LL.D-,  Chancellor  of  the  Syracuse  University.  With 
Illustrations.  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

WHITE'S  MASSACRE  OF  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW.  The  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew :  Preceded  bya  History  of  the  Religious  Wars  in  the  Reign 
of  Charles  IX.  By  UE.NUY  WHITE,  M. A.  With  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$1  75. 

LOSSING'S  FIELD-BOOK  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  Pictorial  Field-Book 
of  the  Revolution  ;  or,  Illustrations,  by  Pen  and  Pencil,  of  the  History, 
Biography.  Scenery,  Relics,  and  Traditions  of  the  War  for  Independ- 
ence. By  BENSON  J.  LOBSINO.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $14  00 ;  Sheep,  $19  00 ; 
Half  Calf,  $18  00 ;  Full  Turkey  Morocco,  $22  00. 

LOSSING'S  FIELD-BOOK  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1S12.  Pictorial  Field-Book 
of  the  War  of  1812;  or,  Illustrations,  by  Pen  and  Pencil,  of  the  History, 
Biography,  Scenery,  Relics,  and  Traditions  of  the  Last  War  for  Ameri- 
can Independence.  By  BENSON  J.  LOSSINO.  With  several  hundred  En- 
gravings on  Wood,  by  Logging  and  Barritt,  chiefly  from  Original  Sketch- 
es by  the  Author.  1088  pages.  8vo,  Cloth,  $700;  Sheep,  $6  50;  Half 
Calf,  $10  00. 

ALFORD'S  GREEK  TESTAMENT.  The  Greek  Testament :  with  a  crit- 
ically revised  Text ;  a  Digest  of  Various  Readings;  Marginal  Keferences 
to  Verbal  and  Idiomatic  Usage ;  Prolegomena ;  and  a  Critical  and  Exe- 
getical  Commentary.  For  the  Uce  of  Theological  Students  and  Minis- 
ters. By  HKNRY  ALFOBP,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Canterbury.  Vol.  I.,  contain- 
ing the  Four  Gospels.  944  pages,  8vo,  Cloth,  $0  00:  Sheep,  $6  50. 

ABBOTT'S  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT.  The  History  of  Frederick  the 
Second,  called  Frederick  the  Great.  By  JOHN  S.  C.  AHBOTT.  Elegantly 
Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

ABBOTT'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  The  French 
Revolution  of  17*9,  as  viewed  In  the  Light  of  Republican  Institutions. 
By  JOIHC  8.  C.  ABBOTT.  With  100  Engravings.  8vo,  Cloth,  $8  00. 

ABBOTTS  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.    The  History  of  Napoleon  Ilnna- 

Sarte.    By  JOHN  S.  C.  AHIIOTT.    With  Maps,  Woodcut*,  and  1'ortraita  on 
teel.    8  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $10  00. 

ABBOTTS  NAPOLEON  AT  ST.  HELENA;  or,  InterestlngAnecdoteaand 
Remarkable  Conversations  of  the  Emperor  during  the  Five  and  a  finlf 
Tears  of  his  Captivity.  Collected  from  the  Memorials  of  Las  Casas, 
O'Meara,  Montholon,  Antommarchi,  and  others.  By  JOHN  8.  C.  ABBOTT. 
With  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

ADDISON'S  COMPLETE  WOHKS.  The  Works  of  Joseph  Addtson.  em- 
bracing the  whole  of  the  "Spectator."  Complete  in  3  n>ls.,  8ro,  Cloth, 

- 


4          Harper  &°  Brothers'  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works. 

ALCOCK'S  JAPAN.  The  Capital  of  the  Tycoon :  a  Narrative  of  a  Three 
Years'  Residence  in  Japan.  By  Sir  RUTHERFOUD  ALOOOK,  K.C.B.,  Her 
Majesty's  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  in  Japan. 
With  Maps  and  Engravings.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

ALISON'S  HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  FIRST  SERIES  :  From  the  Commence- 
ment of  the  French  Revolution,  in  1789,  to  the  Restoration  of  the  Bour- 
bons, in  1815.  [In  addition  to  the  Notes  on  Chapter  LXXVL,  which  cor- 
rect the  errors  of  the  original  work  concerning  the  United  States,  a  copi- 
ous Analytical  Index  has  been  appended  to  this  American  Edition.] 
SECOND  SERIES:  From  the  Fall  of  Napoleon,  in  1S15,  to  the  Accession  of 
Louis  Napoleon,  in  1S52.  8  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $16  00. 

EARTH'S  NORTH  AND  CENTRAL  AFRICA.  Travels  and  Discoveries  in 
North  and  Central  Africa:  being  a  Journal  of  an  Expedition  undertaken 
under  the  Auspices  of  H.B.M.'s  Government,  in  the  Years  1849-1855.  By 
HENRY  BAKTU,  Ph.D.,  D.C.L.  Illustrated.  3  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $12  00. 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SERMONS.  Sermons  by  HENRY  WARD 
BBEOHKR,  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn.  Selected  from  Published  and 
Unpublished  Discourses,  and  Revised  by  their  Author.  With  Steel  Por- 
trait. Complete  in  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

LYMAN  BEECHER'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY,  &c.  Autobiography,  Corres- 
pondence, &c.,  of  Lyman  Beecher,  D.D.  Edited  by  his  Son,  CHARLES 
BEEOHER.  With  Th i-ee  Steel  Portraits,  and  Engravings  on  Wood.  In  2 
vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

BOSWELL'S  JOHNSON.  The  Life  of  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.  Including 
a  Journey  to  the  Hebrides.  By  JAMES  BOBWELL,  Esq.  A  New  Edition, 
with  numerous  Additions  and  Notes.  By  JOHN  WILSON  CROK.CB,  LL.D., 
F.R.S.  Portrait  of  Boswell.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

DRAPER'S  CIVIL  WAR.  History  of  the  American  Civil  War.  By  JOHN 
W.  DRAPER,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physiology  in  the 
University  of  New  York.  In  Three  Vols.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50  per  vol. 

DRAPER'S  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  EUROPE.  A  Histo- 
ry of  the  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe.  By  JOHN  W.  DRAPER, 
M.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physiology  in  the  University 
of  New  York.  8vo,  Cloth.  $5  00. 

DRAPER'S  AMERICAN  CIVIL  POLICY.  Thoughts  on  the  Future  Civil 
Policy  of  America.  By  JOHN  W.  DUAPKB,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of 
Chemistry  and  Physiology  in  the  University  of  New  York.  Crown  8vo, 
Cloth,  $2  50. 

DU  CHAILLU'S  AFRICA.  Explorations  and  Adventures  in  Equatorial  Af- 
rica, with  Accounts  of  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  People,  and  of 
the  Chase  of  the  Gorilla,  the  Crocodile,  Leopard,  Elephant,  Hippopota- 
mus, and  other  Animals.  By  PAUL  B.  Du  CUAILLU.  Numerous  Illus- 
trations. Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

DU  CHAILLU'S  ASHANGO  LAND.  A  Journey  to  Ashango  Laud:  and 
Further  Penetration  into  Equatorial  Africa.  By  PAUL  B.  Du  CHAILI.U. 
New  Edition.  Handsomely  Illustrated.  Svo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

BELLOWS'S  OLD  WORLD.  The  Old  World  in  its  New  Face :  Impressions 
of  Europe  in  1867-1868.  By  HENRY  W.  BELLOWS.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth, 
$350. 

BRODHEAD'S  HISTORY  OF  NEW  YORK.  History  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  By  JOHN  ROMEYN  BRODHEAD.  1609-1G91.  2  vols.  Svo,  Cloth, 
$3  00  per  vol. 

BROUGHAM'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  Life  and  Times  of  HENRY,  LORD 
BROUGHAM.  Written  by  Himself.  In  Three  Volumes.  12mo,  Cloth, 
$2  00  per  vol. 

BULWER'S  PROSE  WORKS.  Miscellaneous  Prose  Works  of  Edward  Bnl- 
wer,  Lord  Lytton.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 


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